Chronic...

I'm not talking about weed.  I'm talking about illness. Occasionally I have to explain  what it means to have a chronic illness.  The term is fairly self-explanatory.  Illness means some form or ailment or disease.  Chronic means long lasting or persistent.  A chronic illness may be manageable, but it won't be cured or go away.

I've had to handle this matter with a man who had broke his leg so badly he was in treatment over a year.   Also with a woman who'd had 3 children.   I told them both to remember those experiences.  The good, so-so, average, bad & just horrible days they gone through during their experiences.  

People who have a chronic illness experience all that, from the absolutely horrible, to the barely noticing.  Mostly, we're in the average days.  Before you get excited that's being compared to the average day of being 6 months pregnant or hobbling around on a broken leg with pens in it. I have good days & awful days.  The bad can be physical, emotional, psychological or any combination .  

I told him to imagine never quite getting his to leg heal right.  I told her to imagine always being 6 months pregnant.  They both paused & said they got it.  But almost immediately asked, "But won't they get over their chronic illness?"   I guess I was unclear on what chronic meant.

People hate other people being sick.   Talcott Parsons, coined the term sick role.  It dealt with how society reacts to the ill.  We have little tolerance for the ailing, especially the chronically ill.  Our culture was strongly influenced by the Protestant Work Ethic.  This ethic promotes works above all & any person not doing so is shirking their responsibility.  This is also why our society has such a bad attitude about the poor.  This mentality is a major source of stigma against the poor & the ill,  Especially anyone that may be seen  as to blame for their own situation.  

Chronic illness is not a play on society or any one else.  It shouldn't be met with stigma, resentment or degradation.  It isn't about blame placement or accountability.  It is simply an ailment that isn't going anywhere, ever.

To be chronically ill means living with all of this.  The illness itself, the shortcomings of those around us, the tedious nature of illness.  It also means knowing this condition will never end until you do.  Having a chronic condition can be truly horrifying.  Knowing that things will only get worse & there is no hope of a cure.

Hopefully, that dealt with the idea of chronic illness.

Cya...