by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters ♥ July 21, 2019
And you thought YOU had a lot of medical appointments. . .
Writing on her blog, “Sick With Optimism“, a Canadian patient regularly sees three nephrologists from three different clinics, two hematologists, two rheumatologists, a cardiologist, her GP – “as well as so many interns, inpatient doctors and fellows, I can’t even count!”
I was profoundly moved by her story about how one of her many recent doctors’ appointments evolved. . .
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
I can’t be completely sure, of course, but I’m betting my next squirt of nitro spray that I am a world-class stoic when it comes to putting up with pain. I survived a ruptured appendix and a near-fatal case of peritonitis that kept me hospitalized for a month as a teenager. I popped out two babies the old-fashioned, drug-free way after 20+ hours of labour and Lamaze breathing. I suffered a broken bone in a bicycle accident while commuting downtown, but still somehow climbed back on that bike in order to show up on time for the meeting I was heading to.
And I put up with two long weeks of increasingly unbearable symptoms (including being unable to walk more than five steps at a time) after being initially misdiagnosed in mid-heart attack with acid reflux.
So I sat up and paid attention when I happened upon the Despite Pain blog post called The Problem with Being Used to Pain or Illness.
Continue reading “When you ignore pain because you’re used to it…”
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