Day 2 "The first year"

A lot of the memories of the first year with El are hazy. I think I somewhat existed just by plodding through the day one step at a time. A few times do stand out to me, so I will write about those.

I remember the first time we went away after El's diagnosis, for a couple of nights, and how deeply it struck me that even though we were on holiday we still had to do all of El's medicines and physio, that there would never be a holiday from them. Not on birthdays, christmas or holidays. That we could never escape from CF.

Another time that stands out is her first cold, which was very stressful. Although I had two other children and knew what was ok for them and what wasn't, the "rules" were very different for her.

Along with her first year came her first admission at 6 months. She had a terrible cough for about six weeks before she was admitted. Unfortunately we were in the same ward that Em had been in, where I had had an awful experience. Thankfully it was much better with El. We also had our own room which was wonderful, I had shared for all admissions with Em except one. We stayed in for nine days, but were able to escape for walks sometimes, which was nice. THe hardest part is being separated from A, and J and Em. I also get awfully sick of all the questions, all the time when I'm in the hospital. And having to talk to so many people. I really prefer to be alone then have people all around me 24 hours a day!

I am sure there are about a million other stories I could tell. but they are the things that really stick out in my mind about the first year.