Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Featured Blogger: Meg of
"Within Deep Brown Eyes"





Keep an eye on the CF Blogroll over the next few months! On the first and third Tuesday of every month, we will be featuring a different blogger from our blogroll. 


If you'd like to be a Featured Blogger, leave a comment or e-mail beingcindybaldwin AT gmail DOT com, and we'd love to feature you! Don't forget to include your e-mail address so that I can send you a list of interview questions. (Currently, I am posting the interviews in the order that I receive them, so don't be worried if it takes a few weeks for your interview to go up.)


Today's Featured Blogger is Meg of Within Deep Brown Eyes. I met Meg while we were in the hospital together a few years ago, and I'm happy to call her a friend! Meg posts poetry inspired by her CF journey on her blog, and sometimes adds writing prompts and exercises into her posts as well. Be sure to pay her a visit and see for yourself!

First, tell me a little bit about yourself!

I am 20 years old and going to school at Westminster College in Salt Lake City to obtain my English-Creative Writing degree.

How old were you when you were diagnosed with CF? What led to your diagnosis?

I was two when I was diagnosed. I had been hospitalized with "pneumonia" for several months but none of the Utah doctors even thought about checking for CF. Our family moved to Indiana for my dad to go to graduate school and the first month there I had a sweat test done on me at the hospital in Indianapolis. The results came back with something my parents had never even heard of before and here I am.
What kind of effect has CF had on your life?

I am sure like most CF patients CF has had many effects on me. My parents had problems paying for all my treatments, and watching how my life made my parents suffer caused me to grow up faster than most kids. I started singing in the choir when I was in seventh grade, but because I got sick so easily I only had a voice to perform 50% of the time. As a sophomore in high school I was placed in a wheelchair due to complications of sinus surgery and had to withdraw from all of my classes because I was so dizzy. I did not understand why until the second time it happened when I was a freshman in college. After my surgery I went to the ENT who told me I had audio-toxicity and my inner ear was poisoned due to the tobramycin I had been taking during surgery. Dealing with CF has not been easy for me and I was diagnosed with depression in fifth grade, with the diagnoses of PTSD, bipolar, anxiety, and GPD following ever since. I also thought the CF center pushed weight a little too much and I didn't want that. Last October I was hospitalized with malnutrition caused by anorexia.

When did you start blogging? What led you to start blogging?
I started blogging as a senior in high school trying to cope with everything and wanting so badly to make a difference somehow. I thought maybe my writing would be a way to do that.

What is your favorite post you've ever written?

The favorite post I have right now is "Normal." It explains what it is to be normal and if it is achievable or not, something I think about a lot with my CF.

What are a few of YOUR favorite CF blogs?

"The Stratton Family Blog" and"Being Cindy Baldwin" are the ones I follow the most because I actually know the people on a personal level. I enjoy reading the others but there is not quite the same connection.

What would be your #1 piece of advice to others with CF?
My number one piece of advice to any CF patient would be to be proud of the things that make you unique. I do not walk into places and answer "I have CF" when the leader asks to know something unique about everyone, but if someone sees me popping enzymes and asks what they are I tell them about why I have to have them and what they do. Don't be afraid to let people around you know about it. I love Great Strides because it allows me to talk to a large number of people about Cystic Fibrosis and how to help other people like me. There is strength in not being ashamed of the disease that makes you who you are.

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