The Medical Dorm

Let’s be honest here, dating can kinda suck.  I mean, it is really hard to find that perfect someone when you are in college like us.  We both know that miracles do happen, but when you have a chronic illness it becomes a million times harder.  There are a lot of things that make this more difficult.  Dating is already hard enough, so when you put chronic illness with trying to find a decent human being, you have a bit more trouble than the normal person.  Here we decided to discuss our dating / lack of dating lives.  Because we know from experience that it is super hard to find someone when you are chronically ill.  Let’s just say that while we hope to find someone one day that can see our good qualities, we know that may not happen.   For many people with chronic illness it can be difficult to leave the house. This leaves online dating. Just like any “normal” / healthy person, you can find some creeps while dating online.  Let’s just sa...

This came to the two of us one day, because if you think about it being chronically ill is harder in more ways than you think.  There more than the obvious hardships caused by being sick.  One of Tremors’ doctors said something to her recently that prompted this.  He said something along the lines of how doctors never 100% know what their patients are doing outside of the hospital / clinic.  Meaning that they do not always know the small struggles occurring at places such as school, or work.  He said that when someone is chronically ill, they have to have a true strength to deal with all of this and learn a lot from it.  Because, of this strength spoonies are pretty much able to live double lives, one being as a patient, and another as a human being.  From all of this, of course you are are able to learn some valuable lessons.  These lessons others may learn as well without having a chronic illness, but when you learn them due to a chronic illnes...

When you are chronically ill (AKA a spoonie) you have certain things in your life that those without a chronic illness never have to deal with.  Today we are here to address some major things that only spoonies will understand. You are practically a pharmacy: When you are chronically ill, you are easily on what seems like a million and one different medications.  Your dresser, nightstand, bathroom, etc. becomes a personal pharmacy.  You may have it in a box, or container somewhere, but there are days when the pharmacy takes over.  You have a collection of pill bottles of every size, and practically live at the pharmacy.  Medications rule your life, and your body knows it.  Your pharmacy is your life line, and you know that you live surrounded by pills. Medication side effects: There are no good medication side effects.  They are either uncomfortable, bad, or downright awful.   Making plans, and then having to cancel: Flares and bad d...

When you are a spoonie, there are a lot of uphill battles.  One of them is getting an education.  If you are new to our blog, as an FYI we are both college students.  Currently, Nemo is on medical leave, and Tremors is currently enrolled.  We met each other in college, and discovered that we had some similar experiences when it comes to spoonie life as a college students.   Roommates / Living on Campus: We both live (/ lived) on campus for a variety of reasons.  One being that Tremors cannot drive, and Nemo did not want to deal with the commute.  Having a roommate can be a bit of a sticky situation.  When we were at the same college, we were both first given singles, but this year we decided to room together.  (We also share this apartment like dorm with two other girls)  Living alone in general can be kinda sad.  However, as a spoonie it may be a necessary evil.  There is no one to hide medications from, and no one to hi...

Here in The Medical Dorm, Nemo has been working with her service dog Secret Agent Puppy for a little over a month.  We decided that this topic needs to be addressed, because someone recently told the two of us that once you get a service dog, you have to educate everyone around you.  The sad thing is that many people do not understand manners when it comes to service dogs, and their handlers.  These manners including not understanding why they cannot pet the dog, or trying to restrict access.  While having a service dog is AMAZING, there are somethings that you get use to / will never be able to get use to. “Can I pet your dog?” : This is the question heard about a million and one times a day.  Apparently, when anyone sees a dog there first thought is that they must pet it, or they will drop dead.  This is only heightened when the dog is wearing a vest / harness.  I guess that they also do not understand that this is MY dog, and that MY dog is wo...

This week we decided to talk about some quotes that hang on our walls.  We think of these quotes as explanations of our room, and chronic illness in general.  These quotes are the words we see as we leave our room.  (These quotes being products of boredom which in our dorm means art and crafts time) These little words are meant to make us smile, and remember who we are.  We want to be able to show that we aren’t ashamed of who we are.  We know that we are “sick,” and that we are not “normal.”  With these quotes we are able to display who we are.  Hopefully you will also be able to see yourself in some of these words as we did. “FRIENDSHIP IS BORN AT THAT MOMENT WHEN ONE PERSON SAYS TO ANOTHER: “WHAT! YOU TOO? I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE.” -C.S. LEWIS When we found this quote, we both looked at each other and laughed.  This quote describes the two of us perfectly.  Neither of us remember the moment we found out that we bo...