meeting someone with cf

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robert321

New member
Has anyone else been somewhere and come across someone that you are just convinced has cf?
I was in a meeting this morning for work and the guy sitting down from me I later found out has cf. I saw him before the meeting come in with his coworkers and I didn't think anything of it until during the meeting (it was pretty boring and irrelevant to what I'm doing so I was looking around a bit) I noticed his fingers were clubbed, and of course he's a skinny guy and has the posture of a cf patient so I thought maybe then, but he was doing a better job than me of staying quiet and not coughing during the meeting so I figured I was imagining things.
Afterwards I didn't get a chance to talk to him as he scooted on out pretty quick but I had been talking to one of the guys with his team, so afterwards I asked "how well do you **him**"
"We've worked together a couple years and we're pretty good friends why?"
"This may sound random but does have cystic fibrosis?"
and turns out he does. Like I said I didn't get a chance to talk to him and ended up asking his coworker but has anyone else had a diagnosis from across the room like that?
Yes I know that wasn't exactly polite asking that way, and if I thought his coworker probably didn't know I wouldn't have spilled the beans for him so don't blast me from that angle
 
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Lena Bean

New member
I have had similair things happen. There's a store in the mall I avoid because the girl there has CF. I avoided the community common areas at my parents house this summer because I saw a little girl there that looked EXACTLY the way I had at her age and I heard her cough a few times.

I'm usually really good at guessing if someone has it. There seems to be a lot of us in Northeast PA though, it's strange that I've had that happen a few times and I was right.
 
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robert321

New member
He never sat up straight, sat with his shoulders forward like we will do and are repeatedly told not to, and would lean against the table, etc. I never really noticed how many posture tells we have until I saw him. I suppose I should work on my own posture.
I noticed his respirations were at around 30 per minute but he didn't have the faint lines a cannula will leave on a person who sleeps with one. I wonder how he is doing, but of course will avoid being around him. there is a big project coming up in a couple of days with the team his with I was invited to come work on with them I had to make an excuse as to why I couldn't do it. I hate to turn down overtime but I'm not going to risk both our health over it assuming he would be there. I can't really say "I can't work because **that guy** will be there" because of course it'll lead to asking why etc. and like I said before I'm not going to be the reason he's "outed" if his boss doesn't already know
 
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Jet

Member
I've been outed before at work. I work for a large company and many of my co-workers don't know I have CF. We also employ a number of physician and nurses who I'm sure at times suspect it. I've been approached by people who either know what the disease is or have a family member with it. I'm usually ok with it but it can also be uncomfortable at time too. I just like to be able to control things and do want a degree of privacy. I've always told my bosses though because I think it helps avoid any potential issues later. Luckily they've always been very supportive and its never interferred with my career advancement.
 
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SaraNoH

New member
Huh, I've never had that type of experience. But if you really think this is going to be a future issue and interfere with your work it's something you should discuss with the other guy. I have my viewpoint on this whole issue, but if it were me and I found out someone was avoiding me, was afraid, and worried about coming into contact with me I'd feel really put down. Plus maybe you can have some nice convos with the guy.
 
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rubyroselee

New member
I ran into another CFer at my work as well. Where I used to work, we had an outside company come in and each day was someone new. One day a girl came in who we had never seen before and she was coughing terribly. Her cough was pretty constant and finally one of my coworkers asked her if she was ok. She said that she was fine and that she just has CF. Because that was the first time I really ever ran into someone else with CF like that, I decided to go up and talk to her. I stood a good 4-5 ft away from her and we had a short conversation. She told me that she was having an exacerbation and was on IVs, and then we just made some more small talk. It was neat running into someone else with CF in the working world.

I suspect that I've seen other CFers in public based on their cough, posture, fingernails, etc. Isn't it funny how we can spot the CFers sometimes?
 
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