<blockquote>Quote<br><hr><i>Originally posted by: <b>Anonymous</b></i><br>Jordan, this is Julie and I posted the previous subject about the toothbrush and over protecting... I understand what you and your mom are saying, but my husband is 24 with CF and he NEVER did any special regimine other than medications when needed, he has ONLY been in the hospital to do STUDIES, he had a remarkable childhood with CF and was a posterchild for 6 years, he was never sick, he played soccer until he was 21 years old and has not had many complications until the recent 1.5 years. And thats just because it's what comes with the territory as you get older. i guess my point is though although it's nice that your family goes out of their way to do all this stuff to protect you and keep family members with germs away and such...are you going to avoid friends in college, how are you ever going to have a job. You can't tell a coworker to go home because he has a cough, and you certainly can't go home every time a co worke gets sick or you will never have a job. That is real life. And it's going to be a brutal wake up call to you if your parents try to protect you from everything. That's all I am trying to say. I don't think they are bad for doing it, it is natural to care about your children, especially when their health is such a big deal-but the reality of the fact is that such overprotection doesn't benefit anyone in the end.
Julie<hr></blockquote>
Julie,
I'm happy your boyfriend is enjoying a relatively mild form of CF so far! And I agree with you that not overprotecting your CF child is a good goal.
However, you seem to attribute your boyfriend NOT culturing pseudomonas until his later teen years SOLELY to the fact that no special measures were taken to avoid him being around germs. I think it's a quite a bit more complicated than that.
There are probably many factors which determine the age at which one first culttures pseudomonas - some of which we have some control over and many which we do not. (For instance, my daughter was NOT overprotected with regard to germs - yet she still cultured pseudomonas by age 6). Some other factors include the degree of lung damage incurred before diagnosis, allergies, pancreatic sufficiency, a modifying gene which may impact severity, etc. etc. Basically, doctors still don't know what combination of factors impacts CF severity.
Also, I think it takes some parents of newly diagnosed several years to relax and realize their child is not going to get real sick every time they're exposed to germs...but sometimes we have to give them the time to realize this!
Hope everyone has a good week!
<b>Text</b><img src="i/expressions/sun.gif" border="0">
Julie<hr></blockquote>
Julie,
I'm happy your boyfriend is enjoying a relatively mild form of CF so far! And I agree with you that not overprotecting your CF child is a good goal.
However, you seem to attribute your boyfriend NOT culturing pseudomonas until his later teen years SOLELY to the fact that no special measures were taken to avoid him being around germs. I think it's a quite a bit more complicated than that.
There are probably many factors which determine the age at which one first culttures pseudomonas - some of which we have some control over and many which we do not. (For instance, my daughter was NOT overprotected with regard to germs - yet she still cultured pseudomonas by age 6). Some other factors include the degree of lung damage incurred before diagnosis, allergies, pancreatic sufficiency, a modifying gene which may impact severity, etc. etc. Basically, doctors still don't know what combination of factors impacts CF severity.
Also, I think it takes some parents of newly diagnosed several years to relax and realize their child is not going to get real sick every time they're exposed to germs...but sometimes we have to give them the time to realize this!
Hope everyone has a good week!
<b>Text</b><img src="i/expressions/sun.gif" border="0">