I’m
sitting here coughing and sniffling and it suddenly hits me that I have to
write the blog this week. With my body aching, writing anything is, well, a chore.
I’ve
seriously started this three times in some attempt to come up with something.
Anything. But since my own health is currently taking a slight blow, my brain
is stuck on the subject of, well, health.
I
do have some chronic health conditions, which are currently well controlled and
I’m actually in good health, generally speaking. Bonnie has serious chronic
health conditions and has to monitor her conditions daily. Now that she lives
alone I have reasons to worry, though she has friends nearby who worry faster
than I do, which is good.
But
if you were to see either one of us, say at Walmart, you wouldn’t be inclined
to describe us as young and healthy. Well, unless you were already an adult
back in the early sixties when we were born and therefore could still consider
us kids.
On
the other hand, if you were to see any of my adult daughters you could describe
all of them as young and healthy. People do it all the time. And the men in my
family, especially my two boys, get so frustrated when I let the two who still
live at home get out of chores because they don’t feel well or it makes them
sick.
You
see, both of my younger two daughters have auto-immune diseases.
My
youngest daughter has migraines and Fibromyalgia. ‘Flares’ mean muscle soreness
which could be all over or localized, or sensitivity to light and sound.
Sometimes she gets them both at the same time. Now imagine doing dishes or
cooking dinner for a family of six under those conditions.
Yeah.
Not happening.
The
older of the two girls, my middle daughter, actually has two auto-immune
diseases. Fibromyalgia and Lupus. So she not only gets the muscle pain, but she
is also sensitive to sun and florescent lights, and Lupus is known for sapping
energy. She can’t do yard work and we can’t use the florescent lights in our
kitchen. Plus she often doesn’t have the energy to spend a half an hour or more
doing dishes or cooking dinner.
Through
her Lupus support group she found a post, a blog or something, by someone
trying to explain what Lupus was to a friend. This woman told her friend
something she dubbed “The Spoon Theory”. This theory is basically that those
with auto-immune diseases, in this case Lupus, though I think it applies to all
of them, wake up each day and have only so many spoons. Spoons represent
energy, and if you don’t have any you can’t do your chores, or much else.
The
thing is, just looking at someone, you can’t see auto-immune diseases. Unless
you can recognize a Malar, or Butterfly, rash for what it is, how would you
know someone has Lupus? How many people realize Michael Jackson had Lupus? You
can’t see someone’s reactions to pressure points unless you actually touch them
so how would you know by just looking that they have Fibromyalgia? And how
about those times when they aren’t experiencing any symptoms?
It
all comes back to what I’ve always said. Don’t judge a book by its cover.
If
you want to make this momma bear, currently pumped with menopausal hormones,
really ticked off, tell one of these two beautiful young ladies they look young
and healthy or that their health problems are all in their head.
Yeah,
that can rile me, even as sick as I am. How’s that for a picture?
