The Medical Dorm

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...

When you are a chronically ill there are many sacrifices.  Chronic illness takes over your life, and changes everything.  You become a spoonie.  (Which means that you use spoons as a measure for daily activities they are able to do.  In the spoon theory you have 12 spoons to spend for the entire day.  For example, getting out of bed may cost you one spoon, while making a meal may cost three) You have to change your entire day to make sure that you have the ability to make it through it.  While you desire a “normal” life, however you life does not work that way.  You have days where you cannot get out of bed.  You have days when you cannot eat.  You have days when you are in so much pain, that you do not know what to do.  With these kinds of days, you naturally may be unable to go out with friends, go to work, go to class, etc.  It happens, and all I want is for people without chronic illness to understand that I am sorry. ...

Something that happens a lot when you have a medical condition / disability is that you get WAY too much sympathy.  You are treated as a porcelain doll, and as if you are less than human.  Because of all of this, we both decided that we were going to write a letter to all of those looking down at us.  We do not want to be mean, or rude.  We want people to understand our side of the story, and for people to see us as “normal.”  While no one is truly “normal,” we do not want to be seen as our illness, or disability.   An open letter to those around me, You are someone who knows what “is wrong with me.”  You know that I am sick, that I have limits, and that I am “not normal.”  You know that I am a frequent flier in the hospital, and have been to more medical appointments than you can dream of.  You always make sure to ask how I am doing by either contacting me, or (what happens more often) you contact my family.  You always wa...