Today I could actually say, "I'm thankful I have RA" and really mean it. After listening to a radio show with Christmas offerings from callers I was quite moved and felt blessed that I have RA.
The caller was a policeman who was speaking of his friend whom also is a policeman. The man is 32 years old, married with a 6 and 11 year old girls. He has been dxd with Lou Garrets disease and has been given less than 18 months to live. He has fallen behind on his mortgage payments, and has not been able to provide a Christmas for his family. The girls do not know about their fathers illness. They just don't know how to tell them.
Well...the DJ's arranged for the man and his wife a lunch on the station. While they were out, the station employees and volunteers came in and fully decorated their home with a Christmas tree, presents, etc...and left them enough money from locals to pay their mortgage for a year.
This is why I feel blessed I have RA...although it is difficult at times to live with...I am still living. I am still with my husband and children. I can still breath, blink, talk, walk, eat, and the list could go on and on. Yes I am in pain a lot of the times but I told myself today, it could be so much worse and to pull myself up and shake it off!!! Who am I to complain when there are babies losing their daddy's or mommies or worse yet...vice-versa! I should and do feel thankful for my disease.
the other diseases we could get. I get a taste of that every day at work and
it is hard to deal with sometimes. I come home and count my blessings.
There are others though with RA that have it so bad and I feel so bad for
them. I hope everyone has an easy pain free christmas.
I guess I am in the same camp Blessed and Lori. There are so many other things that could be going wrong. I have a dx, and even though it is painful and frustrating it is still treatable and most days I have command over my mind and body and can function at least a little.
I look at the suffering of the elders in my life and it is simply frightening what could have or could go wrong. I am thankful.
I am with Lisa, Lori and Shelly. I am lucky I got to 50 before my health went bad.
My best friend from 2nd grade was in a small plane crash when we were 22, killed her boyfriend, and was a C7 quad. I helped care for her for years, and that puts life in perspective. (She finally committed suicide after the doctors cut off her pain meds they hooked her on, but thats a separate rant of huge proportion.) But she never complained, was an angel, a true angel. I am blessed, I could be completely dependent on others for everything and I can still get around at this point.
Great thread. Cathy
We have friends who are right now holding vigil by their 8 year olds bed as he has been stricken w/aggressive leukemia and it doesn't look good. I too feel blessed that i only have RA to deal with.Yes. There are times when I am blessed I have RA. A friend of mine has been diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer which has been located so close to her breast bone that they cannot operate so she is having huge doses of chemo and radio therapy. She is just so ill. So yes definitely, give me RA any day.