I have just turned 19 and I am in my first year of collage. all my life I have been very agressave with my CF, I am just one of those people who if I miss my night treatment I wake up unable to breath in the middle of the night. (I learned very quickly NEVER to skip a treatment) I an at a very gool clinic that leads the way in CF reaserch so I have been lucky to always get the new stuff. I strugle with CF every day and fight for everything I have, and I have a lot! I am now far healthy than I was when I was little, new medications have made all the differance in the world. when I was young my life was run by my CF, in the past few years I have been able to reclame that life to some extent, I finaly have energy to go out with my friends and I am making it 3 months between hospitalizations, I love life! my problem? I feel I am losing that controle. Collage is taking it's tole on my lealth, I am finding that after class I go home and take a 2 hour nap, then study, by the time I am done I am to exosted to go out with frineds, so I do treatments and go to bed. I am in a tech school, the program I am in is a 2 year program and I am only halfway through the first semester! I am thinking about taking 3 years to compleet the program and only go to school part time. would that make my life easer or just prolong my agany? am I getting sicker because of stress from school or because my CF is progressing? I am counting down the days untill spring break, and not because I can go outside and be with friends, but because I can go into the hospital! I am excited as anyone else in my class about break, but they think I should be upset about going to the hospital, I can't make them understand that I just feel crappy. I go to school with a cough and having trouble breathing, my friends all tell me to go home, how can I make them understand that I can't stop living my life simply because I am having trouble breathing, not only would I never go anywhere, but I would fail out of school! I think that it is just one of those things that you don't truly understand untill you have to live it, but do any of you have any sugestions on helping my classmates to understand?
thanks for your help
Littlebird:
I'm sorry to hear that you are havig such a hard time right now. I think first things first,
you have to do what is best for you and your health. I think it's great that you are
going to school to get your two year degree, who cares how long it takes you to get it as
long as you do it in a way that you are not effecting your health.
As far as your classmates go... that is hard. I myself do not have CF but I just learned that my
sister-in-law's new baby does. Obviously, it was a big shock for the family. At first I was
so scared for her that I could not call her right away. Then I realized that I was scared more
because I knew nothing about CF and I felt helpless. Now, I am trying to learn everything there
is to know so I can be there for them and help them out. Unfortunately many people in
this world prefer to stay blind to what they don't understand becuase what we don't understand
scares us. If these classmates are also your friends, have they ever read anything about CF? I believe
that in our life if you have Cf or don't staying around positive people is the best medicine. I think
what I have learned over the last few days is, a person with CF is just as normal as me, but
you just have to take more precaution then a person without. I think you friends need
to realize that you are not "sick" you have a "condition" that you have to put first in your
life.
I don't know if anything I have said helps but stay close to your true friends and take
school one step at a time. Even people without CF take thier time getting degrees and
nothing is wrong with that. Just be proud of yourself for doing it.
I hope you feel better about things soon :)
Carrie Ann
I'm sorry to hear that you are havig such a hard time right now. I think first things first,
you have to do what is best for you and your health. I think it's great that you are
going to school to get your two year degree, who cares how long it takes you to get it as
long as you do it in a way that you are not effecting your health.
As far as your classmates go... that is hard. I myself do not have CF but I just learned that my
sister-in-law's new baby does. Obviously, it was a big shock for the family. At first I was
so scared for her that I could not call her right away. Then I realized that I was scared more
because I knew nothing about CF and I felt helpless. Now, I am trying to learn everything there
is to know so I can be there for them and help them out. Unfortunately many people in
this world prefer to stay blind to what they don't understand becuase what we don't understand
scares us. If these classmates are also your friends, have they ever read anything about CF? I believe
that in our life if you have Cf or don't staying around positive people is the best medicine. I think
what I have learned over the last few days is, a person with CF is just as normal as me, but
you just have to take more precaution then a person without. I think you friends need
to realize that you are not "sick" you have a "condition" that you have to put first in your
life.
I don't know if anything I have said helps but stay close to your true friends and take
school one step at a time. Even people without CF take thier time getting degrees and
nothing is wrong with that. Just be proud of yourself for doing it.
I hope you feel better about things soon :)
Carrie Ann
Well congrads on going to college. its something i wish i did. but i was stupid and d/o of high school. As far as your Cf, most healthy people dont understand the disease, i lost most of my friends when i told em what i had, they stopped talking to me, you would think i had aids instead, people just dont care or understand or they know how to deal with it. what you need to do first is take care of you, get everything back on track so you feel better,then when you feel better maybe you can have your friends who dont understand go to one of your cf aptments with ya where the doctor can help them understand and give them some paper on it. just an idea. you should be proud of yourself for going to college not letting your cf ruin your life.
best of luck to ya and hope ya feel better soon
tricia
Hi LittleBird! I, too, am in college, and I have been struggling more since I have been in college. I was taking too many classes and being involved in too much to focus on my health the way I should. This semester, I am taking fewer classes and have put a hold on some of my extracurricular activities in order to feel healthier. I have noticed an increase in PFTs, but also in the way I have been feeling. I have more energy and am happier. If taking three years to complete the two year program is what you think you should do, then do it. I know from experience that lightening my load has made my life easier from every perspective imaginable.
As far as your classmates go, I don't exactly know what advice to give you, seeing that I go to a University with 28,000 students. My classmates and I don't talk as much as it seems like they do at your school. However, as Carrie Ann mentioned, I would just suggest that they read about it. The next time they make a comment to you about how you should go home, just tell them that this is normal for a person with CF and that they should consider reading more about it. They just might not know that people with CF normally cough more than other people. I think that knowing more about it would make them more aware of how to react to your coughing.
Best of luck!!!
As far as your classmates go, I don't exactly know what advice to give you, seeing that I go to a University with 28,000 students. My classmates and I don't talk as much as it seems like they do at your school. However, as Carrie Ann mentioned, I would just suggest that they read about it. The next time they make a comment to you about how you should go home, just tell them that this is normal for a person with CF and that they should consider reading more about it. They just might not know that people with CF normally cough more than other people. I think that knowing more about it would make them more aware of how to react to your coughing.
Best of luck!!!