Monday, September 15, 2014

Compassion Breeds Solidarity

My compassion for and interest in illnesses, especially the rare or mysterious, has exploded since my Cushing's diagnosis in 2007. I now can relate to the pain and suffering, the daily struggle, the dashed hopes and dreams punctured by mental and physical ailments. This is a hard life, we can all try out best, but wow, it's a lot to bare. I've also become friends with many mother-child pairs, as the parent fights for the diagnosis and treatment of the child's Cushing's. That experience in blood draws, midnight testing, brain MRIs, brain surgeries, and withdrawal symptoms is also my experience. I totally agree: this life is not glamorous at all.

Take a moment to read this story from a teenager who is chronically ill. As an aside, several Cushing's patients develop POTS after bilateral adrenalectomy, but we patients can not determine the pattern or relationship between the two illnesses.