Comments on Brass and Ivory: Life with MS & RA: I am still me.

Asking for help and support without wanting to be ...

2010-08-23T15:10:38.622-04:00

Asking for help and support without wanting to be pitied or coddled or stifled -- that's the hard part, isn't it? Particularly when the line between helping and coddling is constantly changing. We ask a lot of our friends and family, but we're worth it, aren't we?

Lisa This was very well written. You hit the nail...

2010-08-23T14:01:32.583-04:00

Lisa

This was very well written. You hit the nail on the head with your descriptions. As I always say " I may have MS, but it does not have ME!"

Sometimes the hardest part of this whole thing is the flip side of the coin...when you feel physically at your worst, but "you look so good for someone in your situation" becomes the litanny you hear with "invisible" diseases.

I myself suffer from grand mal seizures as a result of the MS - rare, but so be it. Thank you for voicing (blogging) the message of how we live with and adapt to how MS affects our lives so very well.

Carolyne
(MS Means...Multiple Sclerosis)
http://msmeans.wordpress.com/

"But they are a part of me now, so I can'...

2010-08-23T03:45:25.596-04:00

"But they are a part of me now, so I can't comfortably despise them too much."

Lisa, truer words were never spoken. Hating MS (or RA) is tantamount to hating yourself. I think it's better that we learn to live with it; befriend it, if you will.

Lisa! I smoke, I've never lived a particularly...

2010-08-23T00:23:27.588-04:00

Lisa! I smoke, I've never lived a particularly healthy lifestyle, and I do the worst possible thing for my health - I've been a MS spouse caregiver for 20 years (depending who you believe guaranteed to trim a decade or more off my life. Are you trying to tell me that I am chronically ill? :)

Caregivingly Yours, Patrick

Nice. So since I used to drink and am known to smo...

2010-08-22T22:22:30.843-04:00

Nice. So since I used to drink and am known to smoke - err - ok I am still me too.

Dear Lisa, Of course you are still you. Many of u...

2010-08-22T17:53:10.079-04:00

Dear Lisa,

Of course you are still you. Many of us never ever smoked, etc just like Linda said. We ate right and exercised, etc. But a disease ( or 2 or 3 ) attacked us.

I'd love it if people knew that too. I guess this is why the support we can give one another often tends to be more appropriate: we can give support without pity like you said.

Beautifully stated.

I am glad you pointed out the all chronic conditio...

2010-08-22T17:32:47.901-04:00

I am glad you pointed out the all chronic conditions are not caused by lifestyle. I have never had a cigarette or a drink...ever. I only became so over weight within the last 3 years. I have never been into exercise, but did walk daily, worked etc. I get to tired of people saying eat them or take this vitamin or supplement. Nor do I think I am being punished by God.
Oh, thanks for letting me vent

Lisa, this is a brilliant post. I'm just blow...

2010-08-22T17:23:55.525-04:00

Lisa, this is a brilliant post. I'm just blown away.
Judy