I gravitated toward a career in health care almost without thinking about it. It has been rewarding, but it has cost me too.
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As a teacher with cystic fibrosis, I find it no surprise that heading back to school can be a shock to my system. But over the years, I've learned that if I can remember three main things, I can stay healthy through the transition back to school.
When I ran into a particularly difficult situation with my last job, the “d” word entered my lexicon for the first time: disability. While my life doesn't look like I thought it would, I have come to accept where I am and gained a new perspective on work and life.
After leaving a job where all of my colleagues knew that I have CF, I've chosen to stay guarded in my new work environment and not take the risk of telling anyone about CF, including my superiors.
As I have grown in my professional career, I have gone from speaking as little as I can about cystic fibrosis at work to being open about having CF and how it affects me.
Like many of my millennial compatriots, I was booted from my parents' health plan when I turned 26. While my friends were shrugging health insurance off as just another growing pain of their 20s, I was panicking.
Working in the medical field while having cystic fibrosis isn’t easy. But my occupational therapy career has helped me develop skills that make it easier for me to find a healthy balance between work and life with CF.
I have enjoyed pretty good health, so I have tried to keep my cystic fibrosis on the back burner while I pursue my passions. Sometimes, though, CF intrudes, reminding me that it’s still here.
My son, Keith, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer after an initial focus on CF as the cause of his health issues. With people with CF living longer, we need more awareness of pancreatic cancer in CF individuals due to the potential increased risk.
The antibiotics used to treat nontuberculous mycobacteria made me choose between the risk of hearing loss versus the reward of better lung health.