7 Tips for Holiday Travel Success

When you have a bleeding disorder and you are traveling, there are many things to remember. Forgetting factor or Huber needles can leave you in a bind, because these are not items that are easily found at your local drugstore. Making a list and keeping it handy, regardless of how experienced you are with your bleeding disorder, is always a great tool.

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Mama Bears and Warriors: Tears and Joy

Buckets. Buckets and buckets of tears. That’s the only way I can describe the tears I have shed over the years because of living with hemophilia in my home. Both of my sons have had their own struggles with hemophilia and inhibitors, and the tears I have shed have been a response to the various aspects of what hemophilia and an inhibitor can do to a person’s life. I would never wish an inhibitor diagnosis on my worst enemy.  To read the rest of this column, click here.

Something New: Welcoming a New Product to the Family

The hemophilia landscape is much different today from 21 years ago, when my first son was born. There were not many choices in products and they all seemed to do the same thing — help with clotting when the body needed it. Over these years, we even went through a factor shortage. I remember hearing stories about people not having enough factor when it was desperately needed. Fortunately, we had what we needed and were not affected. But when I think back to that time, I was naïve about the enormity of the situation.

Read the rest of the column at Hemophilia News Today.

How Our Family Regained Control

There have been seasons when hemophilia became the center of my family’s universe. A bleed would start and before it healed completely, it re-bled, or a new one began. Visits to the clinic for appointments, timed blood draws, unpacking factor and supplies, phone calls about co-pay assistance, factor orders, authorizations … it seemed to never end.

Yes, hemophilia needs to be the focus when bleeds ravage your child’s body. Click here to read the rest of this story.

A New Opportunity

I started blogging in 2006 out of loneliness. My family moved from Houston to a small town in New Mexico and one night I was completely overwhelmed by the fact that we actually moved! It was a good thing, but a little shocking because it happened in such a short amount of time.

In 2011, my head was reeling from the craziness of hemophilia with my mighty, warrior Caeleb. So much was going on that the only way I could deal with my emotions was to blog about it. I started this blog simply because I needed to express my emotions and keep a record of everything that was happening with my son.

Writing has given me an outlet that I never realized I needed. It has saved me from myself in the worst of times. An online publication, Hemophilia News Today, sought me out to write a weekly column! My column is published on Wednesday's and like my blog, I hope that my thoughts and observations from raising my sons with hemophilia and inhibitors can bring some hope and encouragement to someone else.

You aren't alone. The bleeding disorder community is not really a community...it's a family.

If you need something, reach out in a Facebook group! These groups will always have someone with some good advice and encouragement.

Keep reading, asking and educating yourself.

The worst of the worst will not stay the worst of the worst...it will get better.

To read Cazandra's latest column, click here.