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Living With CF
By Lauren Beyenhof
Because I was diagnosed at birth, I'm unable to give an account of what it
was like to hear the diagnosis for the first time. I've heard my parents'
version of what that was like. I was born on the fringe edge of all kinds of
new developments for CF treatment, but there still wasn't much out there in
terms of reading material or guidelines for my folks to go by. My mom says
they basically handed her a leaflet about CF and told her that I might not
live to see my 10th birthday.
That was nearly 26 years ago.
I never considered myself "sick" and still don't. I have recollections of
what it was like to discover at an early age that I was different. When I
was in kindergarten I thought it was the other kids who were strange for not
needing to take enzymes with their food. I remember my dad teaching me at
breakfast one morning how to swallow multiple pills at once with the help of
a nice big glass of acidophilus milk. I remember getting in heaps of trouble
for refusing to take my meds and instead stashing them around my bedroom. I
remember wanting to play the xylophone in the school band and being told by
my parents that I had to pick a big wind instrument that would provide good
lung therapy (I chose the French horn - lots of sustained breathing!)
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