My CAH daughter is almost 5 and my non-CAH daughter will be 3.  As a single mom, who works full time, I don’t have time to be overly cautous.

Yes, I am very careful about making sure she gets her meds every 8 hours; we always have a med kit with us; I never hesitate to give stress doses and/or injections; and I have a good working relationship with both the ped and the ped endo office.

Not everyone who cares for her knows how to give an injection. Not everyone who cares for her knows the full extent of CAH other than to call me with any illness.  It all depends upon the situation and how close I am to her. And when she starts school next year I will not go on every field trip -- I don’t have enough vacation days. But as I do now, I will make sure appropriate measures are in place.

Olivia notices that she is different.  There aren’t any other kids in her daycare that have a MedicAlert bracelet (she actually feels her hand is different from mine and her sister’s because of it). The other kids don’t have to spend several hours at the ped endos office and get a blood draw every 3 to 4 months. I really don’t want to make CAH a bigger deal than it already is.

I could go on -- but you probably understand where I’m coming from. I will say though, that it has taken time to figure out how to handle different situations. My advice is to take it one step at a time.

Best regards,

Janet