Saturday, January 29, 2011

What does being diagnosed with a serious disease mean to you?

What does being diagnosed with a serious disease mean to you?

This is a really interesting question, and oddly, one no doctor has ever asked me.

Talk about a great open-ended question. If you're at a cocktail party and want to get someone else to handle the bulk of the talking (specifically someone who has been diagnosed with something serious at some point in life), this question will let you off the hook for a good half hour. Come to think of it, I guess that explains why doctors don't ask that question.

So what does it mean to me? At first, it meant an escape from an unhappy life and a fresh start. Then, it meant a choice between either working constantly at being healthy or just giving up and taking drugs and powering through, settling for less than optimal health and not looking my best. Now, finally, it means achieving balance between taking care of myself and taking care of everything else. But I know this now: I have to put myself first, or there won't be any of me to put anywhere else.

read what other lupus patients had to say about this question at the Lupie Log:
http://tinyurl.com/4pbe8e4


Carla Ulbrich, The Singing Patient
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Humorous songwriter, Speaker, and Author of "How Can You *Not* Laugh at a Time Like This?" Get the book: http://tinyurl.com/348hroc

hear the songs: http://www.thesingingpatient.com