Often a major problem with chronic illness is the sustained and prolonged periods of sickness. Incurable illnesses are just that; incurable, therefore patients have the displeasure of walking hand in hand with their conditions until their last days. Obviously if you are reading this in the year 3035 and there is a cure, and Crohn’s Disease and/or the majority of the human race has been wiped out, then hahahaHA how daft do I sound?! Plus what kind of loser are you reading a blog about disease when you could be jetting about the moon on some sort of robot dinosaur? Get a life.
Anyway, what I’m trying to convey is the feeling that in suffering from chronic illness you are never quite able to shake it off. However well you may be feeling at any given time, it’s still always there in the back of your mind. Every day you will more than likely find yourself thinking about it, worrying about it or at the very least talkingabout it. I say talking about it, because although this may not be on your personal agenda, it’s 99% likely someone will ask you about it. They can’t help themselves. After all, to people on the outside, you are more than just a person now, you are a patient. You know that saying about public speaking; ‘…just imagine them naked’? Well they imagine you in a hospital gown. With your rear-end on show. People are looking at you, and imagining your rear-end. That’s what I keep hoping anyway. These people will perhaps at the very least, tilt their head and proffer a sympathetic glance in your direction. There isn’t even anything wrong with this, it’s wonderful to know people care, but it’s also more than wonderful to go one solitary day without being the ‘diseased’ one. On the other side of the coin, I’m not sure how I’d feel if people didn’t ask after me. Offended? aggrieved? Upset at their lack of consideration? Probably none of the above due to the fact that I’m an adult and well aware of the simple fact that others around me have lives of their own. They have worries, pressures, and occasionally, illnesses, all of their own. The world does not revolve around one patient. Not me, you, or either of our rear-ends. Your illness doesn’t trump another’s. The same can be said for patients within Crohn’s communities; bettering each other with symptoms and stories of woe. In my not so humble opinion, it’s harmful and pointless. It’s unfortunately more common than you’d think and something I’d love to see stamped out. Crohn’s and most chronic illness are incurable but attitudes aren’t, and if we work together to change our approach and outlook, we may help to lift one another up rather than knocking them down. We are all in this together, we don’t have to suffer alone and we don’t have to feel put out by others actions. Sometimes if you feel that all people see is your illness, maybe it’s time to look in the mirror and see if that’s all you convey.
