Blood Draw

The blood-draw went well as well as could be expected today. The lab tech used a butterfly and got the vein on the first stick in Anna's left hand. She took 6 tubes of blood! Our little trooper cried quite a bit and I had to hold her tightly on my lap, but by the time the tech was on the third tube Anna had quieted down. I don't think she was too traumatized-- but her mother was --  and she wasn't even there!
Steve

Anna Update

Anna's cough seems to have nearly disappeared! We are so very grateful that she is going to make it through this one (a cold) without much stress on her system. 

We hope the upcoming holidays will continue to find us in good health. It was last year during the holiday season that she caught the cold that put her in the hospital by February.  The CF nurse said recently that because Anna is older she will be better able to fight off colds.  I grab on to any positive statements like that because it lifts my hope.

Tomorrow we have to take Anna in for a "routine" blood draw.  It is our first time.  They are testing for her general health but also to make sure she is absorbing the special vitamins that we give her twice a day.  I have dreaded this day since I found out we had to do it at our October CF clinic visit. I do not know if I can muster up the courage to go- and may send her dad with her instead- but then I know it is at times like this in our lives that we really need our mothers.

From Anna's Mom

Anna is on antibiotics again

I guess I knew it would end. We had such a good run without sickness. Life

felt almost “normal” and one could forget, on some days anyway, that Anna

has CF.  It was August that Anna last had antibiotics.  There was one cold in

there, but it stayed in her upper respiratory area and she got through it herself. 

Though I try to be realistic about how sickness will come into our lives, I still

felt great disappointment when I saw that runny nose and heard that first cough.

Somehow I hoped we could avoid germs if we used enough disinfectant

on our hands and prayed hard enough.  And, I can’t help to feel that somehow

I didn’t protect her enough….   As I write this, she is licking the sliding glass door!

What can a person do?

 

Somewhere out there is a balance that I need to find. The balance between still living

your life and being smart about staying healthy.  I had a horrible dilemma in November

trying to decide whether to let the kids go on a field trip with their friends to Lego Land

( a Lego themed children’s museum).  I want them to have great experiences but sending

them to a “germ park” was a scary thought. What if they brought home a cold? the flu?

I would feel responsible because I made the decision that they could go. After great

mulling and worrying we decided on a compromise- Steve took off of work and took

the three older kids to Lego Land while I stayed home with the two younger. I told Steve that he had to disinfect their hands every 10 minutes and watch them for sticking their fingers in their mouths (unfortunately, all three older kids have oral fixations).  As it turned out they didn’t get colds. But I think that the present one that Anna has came from a trip to a museum last week….   So, where is the balance? Perhaps it will take a few years, or more, if ever, to figure it out.

Wende