I grew up a 10, and am an 11 now.
I was raised knowing that if I wanted to X, I had to do my meds. My dad did my CPT twice a day, everyday, from when I was very young, through age 18 when I went to school. Running on my high school teams helped me avoid the teen rebellion phase.... not only as exercise, but I cared A LOT about setting personal bests, and knew that doing my meds would help that. That carried through college, where I also ran on the cross-country and track teams.
As I've gotten a little older, its become more and more clear how important my routine is, and how much I have to live for. The 2-3 hours I spend doing my routine each day (not counting 5 hour bike rides...) is a small price for other 21 hours of the day.
I'm motivated by several things
1) my wife.
2) the potential for new meds to come along... one of my mutations is G551D, and the vertex study really is great news. When that drug or something like it comes along, I want to be left standing with as much lung function as possible.
3) doing the things I love to do... I wouldn't be able to push myself to bike across the rockies, do triathlons, or go to law school if I don't take care of myself. Many of the goals I set both push me to maintain my treatment regiment, and celebrate the hard work I put into it.
I don't know... this is my normal. I don't feel like I'm not living life by maintaining my routine. My routine allows me to maximize what I have. It definitely helps to be a little ocd... I really can't deal with missing a treatment.
Would I feel different if my lung function were lower?? I think as a teen I might have been less compliant if I were really sick. I confronted my mortality when I was 15-16, and made the decision to do the work to maintain my health. If my lung function was much lower, I might have given up and started doing drugs... I don't know. Have I also been a little lucky? Absolutely.
When I was a teen, I thought I was unique... Look at all this crap I have to do...me me me, etc. etc. It turns out that everyone has $hit to deal with in their lives... and this is mine, so I'm going to deal with it.
In response to Lauren's comments, I agree with her parameters of compliance, but only somewhat. The thing that has helped me is that I actually LIKE exercise, so I don't feel the "burden of treatment" of having to exercise everyday, so I don't count that as part of my "routine". I exercise because I like to, not because I have to. Exercise is an escape for me, and helps me deal with the low level anxiety of living with a chronic illness, and shows me that I'm kicking CF's a$$. I eat right because I bike 300 miles a week. I sleep right because I bike 300 miles a week.
As far as the balance thing, that question comes down to "are you happy with how you're living your life?". To that, I answer "yes."
Chris
27 m w/cf
