1. At what age did your parents hand over all treatments to you. When did they make your meds and treatments your full responsibility?
I would say that as soon as I went to high school treatments and meds were up to me. As soon as I went to college, clearly my parents were out of it and I was on my own. My mother of course called incessantly to make sure I was doing everything. Thank God for caller ID and the Ignore button on cell phones.
2. At what age did they stop going into the doctors office with you?
I actually just cut my mom off this year. My mother quite her job 24 years ago when she found out I was sick. So in a nut shell, I was my mother's full time job. You can imagine just how irritating that got. So after my transplant I slowly started to cut her off. I sped up the process when I realized that my mother was always looking for bad news. Always worried. Always preparing herself for something to go wrong. And also, she just didn't know when to keep her mouth shut. My mom would have me tell the doctor everytime my pinky toe hurt if it was up to her. So since she doesn't know when to shut up and stop worrying, she got cut off. No more doctor's appointments for her and I actually tell her very little about what is going on with my health. Love the woman to death, but sometimes I just can't stand the way she handles this anymore.
3. When do you feel your parents made all aspects of CF (meds, calorie intake, setting up doc appointments, etc) your full responsibility?
CF was all up to me when I went to college. I lived in a single so I had no one looking over my shoulder. My mom was pretty shrewd and got a hold of my friends' phone numbers, but my friends knew better than to rat me out to my mom if I skipped a treatment. I definitely had my rebellious period the first two years of college with noone keeping an eye on me. But I got my act together on my own.
The best advice I can give a parent of a child with CF is to not be overbearing. Clearly, my Mom was and it has definitely put a strain on our relationship. She is/was way too involved in all aspects and details of my life (and my sisters). If she wasn't like that I would live home for a little bit longer, but since she is so involved it is pushing me to move out of the house so I can handle things the way that I want to and have some privacy!
I would say that as soon as I went to high school treatments and meds were up to me. As soon as I went to college, clearly my parents were out of it and I was on my own. My mother of course called incessantly to make sure I was doing everything. Thank God for caller ID and the Ignore button on cell phones.
2. At what age did they stop going into the doctors office with you?
I actually just cut my mom off this year. My mother quite her job 24 years ago when she found out I was sick. So in a nut shell, I was my mother's full time job. You can imagine just how irritating that got. So after my transplant I slowly started to cut her off. I sped up the process when I realized that my mother was always looking for bad news. Always worried. Always preparing herself for something to go wrong. And also, she just didn't know when to keep her mouth shut. My mom would have me tell the doctor everytime my pinky toe hurt if it was up to her. So since she doesn't know when to shut up and stop worrying, she got cut off. No more doctor's appointments for her and I actually tell her very little about what is going on with my health. Love the woman to death, but sometimes I just can't stand the way she handles this anymore.
3. When do you feel your parents made all aspects of CF (meds, calorie intake, setting up doc appointments, etc) your full responsibility?
CF was all up to me when I went to college. I lived in a single so I had no one looking over my shoulder. My mom was pretty shrewd and got a hold of my friends' phone numbers, but my friends knew better than to rat me out to my mom if I skipped a treatment. I definitely had my rebellious period the first two years of college with noone keeping an eye on me. But I got my act together on my own.
The best advice I can give a parent of a child with CF is to not be overbearing. Clearly, my Mom was and it has definitely put a strain on our relationship. She is/was way too involved in all aspects and details of my life (and my sisters). If she wasn't like that I would live home for a little bit longer, but since she is so involved it is pushing me to move out of the house so I can handle things the way that I want to and have some privacy!