Caring for siblings when a child is seriously ill

Shelley Hurguy, RN, Certified Holistic Health Counselor, shares advice from personal experience for parents on the importance of also supporting your other children when your child is seriously ill
Caring For Siblings When Your Child Is Seriously Ill
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Caring for siblings when a child is seriously ill

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When one of your children has a medical condition, it's important to make the others feel special at times too. This can be difficult when you spend most of your time in doctor's offices or in front of the computer researching or physically tending to your child that has a medical condition, but it's no less important. My husband and I have always had special dates with each one of our children. And I think this is even more important when one of your child's needs outweigh those of the others. We have always talked openly with our other children about our daughter's condition and her treatments. With her permission, we allow her brother or sister or both to be in the room when we perform a medical procedure on her. They know the correct terminology, and we just felt that it makes it not taboo; it's part of all of our lives.

Shelley Hurguy, RN, Certified Holistic Health Counselor, shares advice from personal experience for parents on the importance of also supporting your other children when your child is seriously ill

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Shelley Hurguy, RN, MSN, CRNA, CHHC

Certified Holistic Health Counselor

I am holistic health coach with a certificate from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. I have a Master’s Degree in Nursing, and worked as a Nurse Anesthetist for over a decade. I have been trained in more than one hundred dietary theories and found my passion for the power of healing through food when I read Paul Pitchford’s Healing With Whole Foods in response to my daughter’s medical challenges.

My daughter was born with a congenital bowel defect and endured several surgeries before her first birthday. After a highly specialized surgery to render her continent at age eight, my daughter was sent home with a list of medications that were intended for use unendingly. The medications contained chemicals and food dyes meant to alter the passage of food through her gastrointestinal tract, and I couldn’t find a natural supplemental alternative. I began to research dietary solutions to her body’s response to food, digestion and elimination.

During this time of navigating my daughter’s medical condition, professionally, I was administering anesthesia to patients undergoing bariatric surgery; a process of shrinking the stomach so the patient is forced to eat less food. I knew there had to be a better way to solve the issue of obesity, and that there was more to being overweight than just eating too much.

I have learned that what we eat and what we don't eat can profoundly affect and heal our bodies. I offer personalized “roadmaps to health,” created to suit each individual’s body, lifestyle, preferences and goals.

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