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It is wonderful that it is your daughters decision. Being a sufferer I admire her courage to make such a decision - for I am not so sure that I could do that. She sounds like a wonderful little girl, one that will show so much more compassion for other people and their feelings, because she has been hurt and she knows what it feels like. That is something I am proud of in reagrds to CAH. There are parts to human nature, that both the parents and the children have to understand in order to survive - and these are facets that many people don't get because they don't have to go through them. We are all lucky to have experienced the pain, but then we are even luckier when we find ways to get through it; something that both you and your daughter are doing.
My parents were getting divorced when I was your daughters age. There were lapses in communication, and from what I can remember about the custody hearing it was because of CAH that the courts placed me in the care of my mum. I don't regret it, but it gets me thinking - how much of my life is actually determined by this condition? How much of other peoples perceptions of my happiness and identity are forged in the words 'Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia'?
My mum sounds alot like you - I have never been restricted from doing anything I want. I've been to many camps and sleepovers, broken many bones and taken myself to the hospital. I've been allowed to live like any 'normal' person. She trusts me and my opinion, something that I really admire. And it is because she trusts my independance, I trust the fact that I have enough information about CAH to make my own mistakes, and to believe that I can fix them. Your daughter obviously has enough information to be able to make her life better out of her own accord and having independence; knowing your body; finding your identity is not a journey that she will regret.
