The CF Community Blog is written by the community, for the community. It's about sharing our experiences, reflections, and perspectives — the good days, the bad days, and all the tough and wonderful things in between. With topics ranging from emotional health to treatments, the blog is a platform to share your unique story.
Having an atypical presentation of CF means I stand somewhere between the CF world and the rest of the world — and that makes me feel like I belong in neither.
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I had a number of professional aspirations while growing up, but cystic fibrosis caused me to play it safe. Looking back, I wonder how my life would have been different if I didn’t let CF limit me.
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Spending so much of my childhood in and out of the hospital and doing CF treatments was already enough to deal with, so it felt easier to keep my mental health challenges hidden. However, speaking up about my feelings helped me learn that caring for my mental health is as important as taking care of my physical health.
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Back in 2015, my genetic sequencing revealed one nonsense mutation. But recently, I learned I have another nonsense mutation that may not have been identified when my genes were first sequenced. As more mutation-dependent therapies are developed, it’s crucial that people with CF have accurate information so they can make informed decisions.
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Seeing cystic fibrosis portrayed in film and on TV is a mixed bag, and often my disease is overly dramatized to get more views. But I still think there’s value in making people more aware of CF.
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Working as part of a cystic fibrosis care team gives me the opportunity to provide the type of personal care I’m passionate about — I just hope my patients understand how much we are invested in their well-being.
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I learned that service dogs for diabetics can be trained to detect the scent of high or low blood sugar. Could this type of training be effective for teaching my service dog to detect when I have a bacterial infection?