Thanksgiving is one of the best holidays, in my humble opinion anyway. The turkey, the gravy, the stuffing, and the pumpkin pie layered in whipped cream are never too much for me. I could eat that meal at least once a week. But in addition to the large feast, Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the holidays and the festivities that they bring. I love spending the cold days inside by the fire and searching for the perfect gifts for friends and family.
This year, I’m thankful for the fact that Maggie has stayed so healthy, despite having cystic fibrosis. She rarely complains about her PT treatments and takes her medications without a hassle. (knock on wood) Plus, this year I’ll have two children to shop for. One of them will only be a few weeks old by Christmas so she’ll never know the difference, but the other one is just about two years old and is excited for the season. I’ll probably be spoiling her a bit.
Maggie has had to deal with a lot in her two short years. She’s been being poked and prodded since birth. First, to try to figure out why she had developed an infection during delivery and then the real testing when her newborn screening results showed cystic fibrosis. She was six days old and since then has endured a sweat test that made her throw-up, chest x-rays, blood draws, numerous doctor visits lasting up to three hours, medications, physical therapy, and of course, her overprotective parents. So she deserves a little spoiling now and then and the holidays are the perfect time to do it.
We will let her open her gifts before we do her PT, which is usually the first thing she does after waking up. Hopefully Santa will bring a great new video that will entice her to do her PT after opening all the toys. She’ll get to eat everything and anything she wants to all day on both Thanksgiving and Christmas. She needs the calories anyway, so why not get her hopped up on sugar.
Then sixteen days after Christmas will be her birthday and she’ll get some more spoiling. After all the tests and treatments, having to move to a different room with a different bed, switching to The Vest from manual PT, learning to potty train, and becoming a big sister, Maggie deserves the best holiday season possible.