Grieving the Loss of a Normal Life: Facing Chronic Illness
**This post contains affiliate links. Endless hospital stays. Ineffective treatments. Emotional distress. Physical exhaustion. Fearing hopelessness. How is it possible to live a normal life under these circumstances? How can a person cope? What is the solution? Grief. Mourning. Crying until you can’t cry anymore; have a few days reprieve and repeat. That’s the solution. I’m not trying to sound callous; the opposite actually. It may be one of the hardest objectives to face in the light of chronic illness, but the reality is that those affected by it will not live a normal life (not having a “normal” life does not mean that life must be miserable, in fact, Sean and I are striving for quite the opposite). Along with accepting the reality of…
3 Emotional Truths of Physical Health Struggles
**This post contains affiliate links. Emotions. I bet you had an emotional reaction to just that word, not to mention ACTUALLY talking/thinking about or processing real emotions. It’s hard and exhausting work! Now add to the mix that you or someone you love struggles with a physical health issue. As I write this post my husband is experiencing abdominal pain, which means a possible emergency department visit and/or inpatient stay. My mind is in a fog, but I know I still need to keep moving forward. Complete tasks on my to-do list, keep myself balanced, maintain stress levels. If I don’t keep moving I’ll freeze – nothing will get done – and I’ll be that much more stressed and anxiety-ridden if he’s admitted to the…
3 Essentials to Surviving Inpatient Stay Stress
**This post contains affiliate links at no extra cost to you. For anyone who has experienced an extended inpatient hospital stay or who has had a loved one in that position knows that it is not an easy one to be in. In my experience, there are three things that need to be kept at the top of my to-do list in order to maintain some semblance of sanity through one of my husband’s inpatient stays. God First It might sound unfair to some or even callous. Put God first when your husband is sick in the hospital? I believe that God does ask us to put Him first, always. If He is not first everything else gets out of whack. That is even more…
Wife of a Chronic Illness Sufferer
That’s me. Well, part of me. There are a lot of parts to who I am as a person. One part, a new/confusing/trying to be courageous part, is the wife of a chronic illness sufferer. My husband, Sean, and I were married on a breathtaking winter day in March of 2018. About ten months prior Sean was diagnosed with Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC). Choosing to Live with PSC Lots of questions, right? What is PSC? How is PSC different from other chronic illnesses? Is there a way to fix it? What does Sean’s diagnosis mean for his future? What does it mean for our future? What about our plans…our dreams? Can you plan a future with a chronic illness? PSC affects the bile ducts of…