Wednesday, January 21, 2009

A Good and Bad Issue

Today I realized something about Cystic Fibrosis that is a blessing and a curse. Luke looks totally normal.

I know that may sound odd that it would be a bad thing but here is the reason it is sorta irritating. People are nosy and they ask questions about things. Things like why my son would be wearing what looks like a cast. There are other things too, like being stared at when I am at a restaurant giving enzymes, or when I wipe down the shopping cart for 10 minutes to make sure that he gets no icky germs, and I even get them when I tell him "Good cough buddy, keep em coming". I feel like people judge some of the odd things we do, such as feeding him lots of chocolate and also loading his food with butter and salt. I have seen the looks that mothers have given me and I know what they are thinking, "That mother is KILLING her child"! What they don't realize is that I am helping him live longer.

That is why I feel it can be a curse. I feel I have to explain some of my parenting techniques and also why he is so small for a 17 month old. People just don't get it sometimes and it's only because they are uninformed.

However, all of this got me to thinking. How many times have I judged a mother because she is giving her baby a bottle and the child is old enough to find it himself. Or what about the time I judged a mother for allowing her child to eat off of other peoples plates. I have done these things myself now and I have a reason for both! I am not going to get into them now but I should have never judged people!

I encourage you to try and put yourself into others people shoes this week. When we see people we only see a still frame of their life. We have no clue what the circumstances of their life are. They may have a perfectly logical reason for what their child is doing.

So my challenge is this- He who has no sins, cast the first stone.

Put yourself in their shoes, you may see life differently.

7 comments:

Blended in Texas said...

You know you never put on here what you're having. Are you not going to say? Just wodnering...love ya!

Unknown said...

i know exactly how you feel. were in the same boat where val looks normal, i get stares at her tube, when shes screaming, when she colapses from sheer exaustion after 5 minutes....i completly understand :hug:

Courtnie said...

Thanks Alicia!

It can be a tough thing to handle. How is Val doing?

Unknown said...

shes doing alright. i have a caringbridge page for her if you want to look http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/valkyrie in the last few months weve learned a lot about whats going on with her!

Deb said...

yep, you are exactly right... a wonderful lesson for us to all take to heart.

hope everything is going okay!

Alicia said...

I have been so behind on my blogging, and I'm really missing out. I'm so sorry you've had a recent hospital stay, but that is better than getting too sick.

Everything you mentioned in this post I can completely identify with. Now that Sam can swallow enzymes straight I really get stares! And I do need to keep my own judgmental attitude in check. I don't know someone's life!

Lil' Chris' Mom said...

Hi,
Thanks for visiting my blog:)
So I'm guessing you had an Amnio? I hope that you get great results and no CF. I'll be praying for you. We oppted not to get the Amnio. We figured it wouldn't change anything, except make me possibly upset my whole 9 months. Now hopefully we only have 1 more day to find out if my lil' girl with be born with CF. Although, the results sometimes take 2 weeks:(
Anyway, I agree with this post. We get the weird looks too, but I just ignore them. I just tell myself "If only they knew."
I'm going to add you to my blog list, if you don't mind:)
Look forward to getting to know you:)
M
acure4lilchris.blogspot.com