It’s not contagious!
An event that happened two months ago still bothers me today. And now that I have this blog, I want to bring it up again.
A common misconception/fear about K’s illness is that it’s contagious. I’ll say it now, Cystic Fibrosis is NOT contagious! It’s a genetic disorder. Two carriers have to come together to create one full CF baby. You can’t get it by casual transmission.
This still bothers me today. Because two months ago M had her speech therapy session at the park (the therapists idea). While she was playing with her ST, I took K around and let her play, etc. I put her in a baby swing and was swinging her gently. Another mom with a baby a bit younger, but quite a bit bigger than K got on the swing next to me.
We talked for 10-15 minutes, swinging our girls. It was a nice conversation. We laughed, we went through how we became SAHM’s, our “surprise” babies…it was nice. I was thinking that she was so nice, and we seemed to have a bit in common. Then she mentioned K’s small size, and we started talking about the special needs stuff. Just in passing, I didn’t want to make a big deal of it. But then I did it. I said, “Just diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis.” Again…just in passing, not a big deal…but everything changed in that brief moment.
My son ran up and I turned my back for two seconds…by the time I turned around she was gone. No goodbye, she practically ran with her girl to their car, loaded her in and took off.
Yes, it could be a coincidence…but my heart tells me it wasn’t. I got disenheartened that day. I knew my girls faced physical obstacles…but that was the first time I came face to face with the emotional impact their disabilities would bring to them.