I used to be very shy about my disease. When I say shy, I mean like ridiculously shy. I can only assume I may have come off as a bit odd with my random disappearances to the bathroom, or my crazy mood swings. Of course, without knowing a little bit of what is going on, it’s quite easy to see that this behavior doesn’t exactly match up with normal social behavior. I still remember being stubbornly silent about it when one day I was almost backed into a corner when I was asked about food at work. I wasn’t eating gluten at the time (one of the many crazy non-medical interventions I’ve tried) and they were ordering pizza at work. After a few times ordering, I guess they noticed that I never had a slice of pizza so my boss had asked if I was gluten-intolerant. For whatever reason, I opened up about my Colitis and he was really cool about it. I started realizing that once I began being open about my condition, people were quite understanding. Yet, this isn’t the point of this article, but we are getting there.
Once I began opening up about Colitis, I noticed one disturbing pattern. Everyone seemed to know someone else with the disease. Whether it was their aunt, uncle, brother, mother, father, whatever, someone they had known had Colitis or Crohn’s disease. I started thinking about this, and began to count the number of people just in my life who had some form of chronic disease. Pretty soon I came to the conclusion that we all, in some shape or form, know someone, or are close with someone who has a chronic illness. It eerily effects all of us in its own twisted sense.
It’s very easy to forget this, especially when you are not the one directly suffering from a chronic disease. It’s very easy for someone to get short tempered with me for needing frequent stops on road trips, or annoyed at me in class since I’m in and out of the lecture hall. These are people I indirectly effect. I think of it as a ripple effect. I just so happen to be standing at the spot that the rock hit the water, and those I effect are in range of the ripple that rock creates. Now, throw multiple rocks in the water, and let’s see how many of those ripples overlap. I would bet many of them do.
I guess what I’m trying to get at is that it’s almost hard to imagine how many people are effecting by chronic illness, be it mental or physical. Ya, it’s most definitely hard on the person with the illness, but it can be equally hard on those who are supporting those who are sick. I just wanted to stop for a second and give my appreciation for all those who support someone with chronic disease. You are the people that give those effected strength and determination. You are the ones that support us the most in our darkest moments, and you are the ones we turn to when we have nowhere else to go. These people deserve all the credit in the world and often they get none. Thank you.