Re: Saturday

[Guest guest]

wrote,

A note for anyone with kids

>on Claratin-- never start Eurythromycin-line antibiotics if they've been on

>Claritin within the last few weeks. There are a handful of reports of

>dangerous, irregular heart beats resulting from the combo. of drugs

(similar

>to what happened with the notorious seldane before they took it off the

>market). Part of the reason we do Zyrtech is that my kids end up on

>Zithromax a lot, and I decided it's too similar to Eurythromycin for me to

>feel comfortable combining it with Claratin.

I didn't know that , Ang isn't on claritin, but I am , and when I

need antibiotics (not very often) I am usually put on Biaxin because I am

allergic to penicillins, ceclor and cipro. They never mentioned anything

about this, I will have to ask. On the same line, I never did get it

figured out why the pharmacy said no bactrim with the propulsid. is

on allegra, because she has a lot of nasal allergies too. Our HMO doesn't

have zyrtec on the stupid formulary. We used to both be on it, I really

think I like it better, but so it goes.

>I went out to my book group last night and it was sort of weird. < snip

snip>

Then when I told eveyone that Meagan had her

>first real " CF bacteria " in her lungs, there was absolute silence.

I used to go to a bible study when my kids were little. To be honest, I

really just went because a lot of my friends went and they had child care,

so it was a chance once a week to deposit the kids and be around adults.

But I had the same sort of experience there, we had prayer requests and I

swear some of those women the stuff they asked for prayers for was

ridiculous. Like I will never forget this some lady asked for prayers for

her microwave, it had broken down. Geeze, well anyway, I had a good friend

in there and she was going through a really nasty divorce and her ex-husband

was going for custody of her 3 year old son, and I had my problems with

being sick quite often....I would mention she was on antibiotics

again or whatever and I would get stares. and my friend would tell

about what evil stuff her ex had been up too, and pretty much got the same

reaction.

I also wanted to scream sometimes when my " normal " friends would tell me

their little angel had ANOTHER ear infection (or whatever) and oh how awful

it was they were going to have to take medication for TWO whole weeks! oh

this is awful! and all I could do is smile and nod, and think to myself, IF

only my had to ONLY take meds for two weeks. oh well...just thought

I'd mention that, to let you know you aren't alone there . I do wish

we all lived closer somehow.

About the chest pt, I am sure Meagan will come around. used to fall

asleep every night when did it. We went on a camping trip with some

friends and the only way we could get her to sleep was pounding on her. I

have no idea what those friends thought!! Actually they were good friends

and nice people so I'm sure they didn't think anything.

Have a good weekend all, I guess the sneezing was a false alarm for Ang but

she has been coughing a little more than usual. She is going to a slumber

party tonight and she told me the girl has bad asthma and has a neb machine.

I think I will make her take hers anyway.

till later, love you all,

[Guest guest]

When I was little, we would go to visit my aunt who

lived in a little town about ten miles from us. She

seemed very sweet and all, but I steered clear of her.

She was the only person I knew who was confined to a

wheelchair. Also, her head lolled to one side. I

knew I wouldn't catch whatever she had, but I just

didn't know how to react to the situation (do I

mention the wheelchair? do I ignore it and act like

everyone has one?) so I avoided getting near the

woman. We never talked about it in my house. As I

grew up, I avoided people with obvious disabilities.

I stayed away from my second-cousins who had something

called cystic fibrosis. I knew I couldn't catch it,

but what do you say..., " so I hear you're going to die

before you're a teenager... " ?

I wasn't equipped with the skills to deal with even

simple issues that concerned these people.

Aunt Bernice died of multiple sclerosis a few years

back. I never did have a conversation with the woman.

Never got near enough to her to hear her

conversations with others.

I was very good at avoiding " Holland " and even had

myself convinced that it wasn't on my map at all...

until we had Levi.

Now I make eye contact and smile, I say, " hello " and

" how are you today? " to strangers in wheelchairs. I

wave to little children who are obviously a little

different than the other little children. I don't

cast my eyes down or pretend not to see those of us

who don't fit the " Italy " mold.

And I get a softball-sized lump in my throat when I

think of Levi dealing with people, people who are just

like his own mommy used to be, people who will look

right through him rather than acknowledge that all

isn't right with the world, and that the the edge of

the planet isn't at the edge of " Italy " .

Gee, and all I was trying to say here was that the

people at the book club just aren't equipped with the

information to have a knowledgeable conversation about

the nuances of cf... guess I got a little carried

away.

Sorry.