"The moral test of a society is how that society treats those who are in the dawn of life . . . the children; those who are in the twilight of life . . . the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life . . . the sick, the needy, and the handicapped."
---Hubert Humphrey
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By wendy, on August 15th, 2010
There’s a new blog carnival in town, and the first edition is LIVE. Hosted by Jolene, over at Graceful Agony, this first round is introductions from the participants, and includes some amazingly candid posts.
I haven’t known any of these ladies long, but they inspire me and give me strength on the bad days; and allow me the honor of trying to do the same for them. They are the strongest people I know, and I’m so thankful to have found them (thank you Jo . . .)
Jolene amazes me with her strength and determination. She has been suffering agonizing pain, and is now dealing with a beloved family member who is in the hospital dying; but she still found the time and energy to read all of the submissions for the carnival, AND get it posted. I don’t know how she does it, but she is a model for all of us that live with chronic illness and proof that you CAN have a productive life no matter how bad it gets.
By wendy, on August 15th, 2010
Today is a silent storm of pain, everywhere in my body . . . there is no comfortable position, no relief, no rest, no ease. It was already shaping up to be a bad pain day because the weather was changing, and that always triggers the fibromyalgia. With fingers and toes that felt like there were nutcrackers clamped on every joint; sharp shooting pains in random areas; stiff neck; TMJ pain; the usual shoulder, elbow, and wrist pain caused by my job; the constant ache in my spine between my shoulderblades and in my lower back; and the grinding pain in my hips and knees my pain levels were about an 8 . . . and then there was the birthday party. Continue reading Silent Storm »
By wendy, on August 11th, 2010
There’s a new blog carnival in town, hosted by Jolene at Graceful Agony, and the topic of the first edition is, “Let Me Introduce Myself.” This is my least favorite topic in the entire world, since I am NOT good at telling people who I am.
I think a big part of the problem is simply that there’s just so much to say, and the connections aren’t very logical. (I’m a Pisces, logic just isn’t part of my makeup. Intuition, emotion, passion: yes; history: I’ve got tons; logic: not so much.)
I’m a mass of contradictions, a mess of chronic illnesses, a pile of insecurities; and very much a product of my past. Continue reading Introductions Again? Yikes! »
By wendy, on August 11th, 2010
The latest ChronicBabe carnival is up and ready to go . . . Lots of points of view and helpful information about dealing with doctors, etc. is available for your reading pleasure.
By wendy, on August 6th, 2010
The next ChronicBabe carnival topic is “how do you deal with the medical establishment.” Since I lost my insurance two years ago, I hadn’t dealt with them at all until last month when I had to go to the emergency room, and ended up in the hospital for 5 days with no pain meds. I had my first visit with a rheumatologist since Oct. 2007 on Monday, and that experience wasn’t a whole lot better. Continue reading The Medical “Establishment” – Thanks; but No, I Don’t Think I Will »
By wendy, on July 29th, 2010
I’m a little late with this post, but the
Patients for a Moment: Nicest things edition hosted by The Queen of Optimism is now live. Ten bloggers (including me) write about the nicest things that people have done for them since they’ve gotten sick.
If you’re looking for inspiration or need to be cheered up, these are the posts for you. There are so many negatives involved in chronic illness, and it’s nice to remind ourselves of the positives sometimes.
By wendy, on July 29th, 2010
According to a newly released research study (Mortality in fibromyalgia: An 8,186 Patient Study Over 35 Years ), having fibromyalgia increases the chance that someone will commit suicide. I don’t understand exactly how much the risk increases, since the study provides an odds ratio rather than relative risk, but the simple fact that suicide is more likely is frightening enough. (The risk of accidental death was also higher in the fibromyalgia patients, which I’m guessing is at least partially related to “fibro fog” issues like forgetting whether you’ve taken your meds and accidentally taking an overdose.)
I’d been wondering about this subject, since I’ve been dealing with some serious flare issues lately, and have caught myself thinking, “please just let me die and stop hurting,” quite a bit. Continue reading Fibromyalgia Increases Risk of Suicide »
By wendy, on July 25th, 2010
We don’t say it often enough, do we? Thank you . . . Two simple words, but it can be so hard to remember to say them. Not for the big stuff, we usually remember when someone gives us something big, but how often do we remember when someone listens to us? How often do we thank our friends for just being there for us; for listening, for understanding, and for giving us the strength to keep going when all we want to do is curl up and die?
I know I don’t tell my friends how much I appreciate them nearly enough, so when I found out that the new PFAM blog carnival topic is “the nicest thing(s) anyone has done for you since you became ill,” I decided it was time for some “thank yous.”
I have a LOT of friends, both real life and online, and they’ve done TONS of nice things for me. I’ve been given computers, and televisions, and a home; I’ve had friends lend me heating pads, and cook dinner on my night to cook, and give me rides to work. . .
My wonderful friends have done more for me than I could ever repay if I had a million years to do it in; but the best thing they’ve ever done is just listened to me when I needed to talk about how bad I felt, how scared I was, and even when I was suicidal. Continue reading The Best Friends in the World »
By wendy, on July 14th, 2010
 Some of the fireworks I missed while in the hospital. I just had the most awful holiday weekend EVER, thanks to my fibromyalgia, not having had insurance in two years, and the prejudice in the medical field against those living with chronic pain.
I got up last Friday(July 2) to start getting ready for work, and started passing huge amounts of fresh, liquid (and very red) blood. Naturally enough, that scared the hell out of me, and when it happened for the fourth time in an hour-and-a-half, I called in sick and headed to the emergency room at our local hospital. Since I wasn’t sure if it was related to one of my pre-existing conditions, and the insurance through my husband’s job doesn’t cover those for another couple of weeks (they have one of those clauses that says they won’t pay claims related to anything that was diagnosed before your coverage started for the first twelve months,) I went to the charity/teaching hospital, just in case it turned out not to be covered.
My first mistake was having the hubby drop me off, rather than calling an ambulance, assuming that even as a walk-in patient I would be seen within a reasonable length of time. (I guessed that it would take three to four hours to see a doctor, since I was bleeding, but it wasn’t VISIBLE. Boy was I ever wrong.) I arrived at the ER at approximately 2 PM Friday afternoon, and was FINALLY moved to a treatment room at 3 AM Saturday morning. That’s THIRTEEN hours of sitting in the waiting room, hoping I wouldn’t bleed to death before they got around to seeing me and watching people who came in after I did get treated and released because they didn’t need a “trauma room.” Continue reading Hospitals, Unfamiliar Doctors, and Fibromyalgia: What’s Your Experience? »
By wendy, on July 12th, 2010
 I’ve been very remiss, but it’s time to make up for that . . . A couple of weeks ago, I found a wonderful surprise in my email. Dominique, over at 4Walls and a View, has awarded this blog the “One Lovely Blog Award.” I’m amazed and honored to be chosen, however, fulfilling the requirements has been rather difficult. Between them, Dominique and Jolene (Graceful Agony) had managed to pass this award to many of the blogs I follow, so I had to find 15 more blogs to pass it on to.
In order to receive this amazing honor, you should meet the following requirements:
- Accept the award and post it on your blog with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link. (Check.)
- Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered (if possible). (Check.)
- Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award. (Working on it.)
Finding 15 blogs to pass it on to was NOT easy, but I did it, and here they are: Continue reading Lovely Blog Award? Me? »
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Welcome to the new home of Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired. I hope you'll enjoy the changes, and the new resources I'll be adding as I have time to work on the site. Things will look a bit odd while I learn where and how to modify the appearance, so please bear with me.
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