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Hope is in the Air

What a difference 8 months make!  My last post was right after Nadia graduated from preschool.  Now, she is in the 2nd half of kindergarten.  She has learned to read.  She loves school.  She says that she wants to be a teacher because her teachers take such good care of her (they make sure she gets her enzymes each time she eats at school).  She has even taken to assigning herself homework when she doesn't have any (Wonder where she gets this from?)  This week, I tried to get her to go to bed with the promise that we would finish her homework in the morning--but she wasn't having it.  She cried to do her homework!

Her energy and personality manage to keep me from hyper-focusing on her illness all of the time and staying freaked out (as I was in my last post), though it still happens.  This winter, she has been plagued with a chronic hacking cough.  I am assured that this is the result of recurring sinus infections.  Like clockwork, this begins in earnest at 3 am, and it is so loud that I wake up.  Once awake, I struggle to go back to sleep because all of the "what ifs" come back to haunt me.  What if this coughing is a sign that her lungs are now getting damaged?  What if I should take her to her doctor at Baptist instead of her pediatrician?  What if she is really sick this time and has to be admitted to Baptist for antibiotic treatments?  What if....?  She is taking an antibiotic currently, and even though it is watermelon flavored, it is really nasty.  The other night, she took it and promptly threw up her dinner (green peas--yuck!).  She really hates blowing her nose, and hearing her fight with Jef over this and cry breaks my heart.

But--this is a blog of hope!  I have just begun the 2011 Great Strides Campaign for Team Nadia Denise.  I have been remembering the unexpected support of all of our friends and family last year in this endeavor.  We are not alone in this journey, and their support reminds me of this lesson.   They all love my little girl.  She views this walk as her day, and it is a celebration of her spirit.  I think it will help her to come to terms with her illness as she gets older.  Already this year, our friends and family are more energized and committed than last year, and that is a reason for hope.  I hope that our efforts will advance research and medical discoveries for cystic fibrosis.  I know that my friends and family love us.  Love goes a long way!

Now I have to turn my attention to writing this year's Nadia poem for our team t-shirts.  I will post it here for your comments when I get a draft. I am glad that I started this tradition because it gives me a deadline and motivation to reflect on my beautiful daughter and her personality and actions as I try to convey her in words.

 I hope you like the picture above that will be on this year's posters in Asheville.

Please consider making a donation to our campaign and/or joining our team by clicking here.
We are also on facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/group.php?gid=331933955442

Hopefully yours--

Bobbi
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