Dear Reader,
The rule in our house, when I was growing up was, nobody ever gets sick. And if you did feel ill, keep it to yourself, get dressed for school, shake it off, you'll be fine.
So talking about not feeling good, I felt ashamed, it felt like a sin. Well, I'm sinning big time today. I know there's always someone worse off when it comes to medical woes, but it's been a string of 'I feel terrible/horrible days'. Take a deep breath and get it out Suzanne.
In the past two weeks I've had a just-kill-me-now drug reaction to a pill I use for the pain of my occipital neuralgia, and then a trip to the ER for a mysterious, sharp, never-ending pain on my left side, a colonoscopy, an endoscopy, a mammogram, two trips to the doctor (still trying to figure out what the mysterious daily pain is), a nuclear MRI and now I need to get my gallbladder removed. If only they gave patients frequent "user miles" next year's mammogram would be a freebie.
And now I'm playing a painful waiting game to see a surgeon, and then I suspect I'll be painfully waiting longer to actually have the operation. (I'm about ready to see if there's a YouTube, do-it-yourself gallbladder removal video.)
Announcing how terrible you feel, I think it can be the best medicine. Thirty-five years ago, when I was diagnosed with Benign Essential Blepharospasm, the doctor said, "Suzanne, the good news is the disorder won't kill you, the bad news is there isn't any cure." 'No problem,’ I told myself, ‘get dressed, shake it off, you'll be fine.' After a few days, when the 'You'll be fine' was wearing thin, I reminded myself that a lot of people are much worse off than me. But the "healing" really started when I woke up one morning and I screamed, "I don't care if some people are worse off, this sucks!" And later that day, after getting it all out, I was finally able to come to terms with my disorder, and as I wrapped my arms around it, we became coexisting friends.
Wow, thanks for listening. Writing it down, getting it all out, I feel better already.
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Warmest regards,
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.
This month's Penguin Classics book is The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway. I have a copy of the book to share with a lucky reader, so start reading and enter for your chance to win.
Comments