Briceton was diagnosed by newborn screening.......he was first hospitalized with pneumonia and collapsed lung at 2 months of age, hospitalized at 5 months for nissen fundoplication surgery, hospitalized at 9 months for exacerbation and port placement, and hospitalized at about 14 months with pseudomonas and then another exacerbation. He was since hospitalized again this past March for pneumonia and collapsed lung.
Every time he is put on his "cocktail" of medications and within a few days of inpatient he is usually doing well enough to finish the IV's at home. He is a toughie and at this point most of his exacerbations only put him down for a couple days at a time.
As far as outpatient services.....we have had many bronchs, CT's, x-rays, swallow studies, ultrasounds, upper GI's, lower GI's, sigmoids, etc......
He just recently started HTS and it seems to be doing really great for him! Hoping things may level out for him soon! But like you mentioned in your original post, every CFer is different! Heck, there is a LOT of adults on the forums who have never been hospitalized and then some who can't stay away! There is no way of knowing what path CF will take.