Next week, September 8 - September 12. people who have a chronic illness will be able to unite online to listen and ask questions of speakers about living with invisible illnesses. Lisa Copen, the founder of Rest Ministries, also coordinates National Invisible Chronic Illness Week. She has Rheumatoid Arthritis and does all she can to provide support and information to those of us who feel isolated and very often misunderstood.
I am one of those misunderstood people. Although I have multiple chronic illnesses and have times when I can’t put two thoughts together, or get out of bed, people tell me that I look great. I hear it so often that I just am programmed to say thank you. I know they mean well. And it is a compliment to be told that I look good, but when you’re feeling like the bottom of someone’s shoe, it kind of rubs me the wrong way.
Do you get it? You probably don’t if you don’t have an invisible illness. Please join in for Invisible Illness Week. You can learn how it feels to be one of us or get the support you may need.
I’ve had to go for weekly blood tests since being diagnosed with Gitelman’s Syndrome. Not only are my veins having a tough time of it, my wallet is too. Usually I have no problem with blood tests. I go in the Phlebotomist does her stuff and I’m outta there. Lately though they can’t find a vein to work. I’ve been poked and prodded so much that my arms are bruised.
Then there’s the financial part of it all. It’s bad enough that if we didn’t have good health insurance we’d meet our credit card limit. Thank goodness my husband’s insurance covers most of this. Plus I go once a month for another kidney blood test, once every two months for a CBC and once every three months for blood work for the Rhuematology issues I have.
I just got a card from the blood lab so I don’t have to show my Driver’s License and Insurance Cards any more, kind of like a frequent blood letter card!
To continue with my posts about working as a blogger, you’ll need a web site for your blog. This is one of the most important decisions you’ll make about blogging and earning money. Having an impartial site to check out the various hosting companies helps a great deal.
You can compare on the costs, ratings, reviews, speed, cost of domain names, and packages all on one site. There’s a specific review of best blog hosting too. Consider that you may want a web site also later on to promote your blogs as you grown and have more than one blog. So learning about web hosting for other than blogging is something to begin to look into.
Whether you’re beginning to blog or a seasoned blogger like me finding the best web hosting is a way to make your sure your blog is always available and a way to be sure that you save money too. For me that’s very important. For other people with chronic illnesses I know it is important too.
It’s hard for me to accept small changes like moving things on my desk, changing my personal schedule or doing my chores in a different manner. But when you’re sick like me you have to learn to go with the flow. Your life is full of unexpected surprises and some of them are not good.
I can feel fine one day and the next end up being unable to do a thing. I can go to the doctor for a checkup thinking everything is fine to find out that my bloodwork showed problems.
When you have a chronic illness that’s how life goes. Some people end up with a lot of hospitalizations. In that case I’m blessed now (not so about 2 years ago). Some people have a lot of flare ups, include me there. These kind of things throw me for a loop still. I hate the uncertainty, the unknown. I’m still working on learning how to accept change, but I think I’ll be working for a long time.
Laurie Edwards has written Life Disrupted, Getting Real About Chronic Illness in Your Twenties and Thirties. There is really no age limit for people who read this book. If you have any type of chronic illness this book is for you.
As I read Life Disrupted I found myself nodding my head in agreement. Laurie “gets it” and has challenged me to work harder as an advocate for people with chronic illnesses.
Laurie lives with PCD (primary ciliary dyskinesia), a rare illness, which was wrongly diagnosed as a child. She understands many of us living in limbo land with either a wrong diagnosis or no diagnosis.
She writes about life with a chronic illness, from being in the medical forum as a patient, to being a member of society to being a family member. Along the way you’ll learn how to stand up for yourself, how to be seen as person not a sick person, how to make decisions about your medical care and how to live a fulfilling life.
This is a personal and moving book. Laurie shares her life, good and bad. This is an informative book. Read about how to cope in the emergency room and in hospitals, what and who to tell about your health issues and, what you can teach the medical community about people with chronic illnesses. You’ll laugh too, because after all that’s part of life, and Laurie Edwards shows us that you can have a full life even with a difficult diagnosis.
I have added this book to my small list of “must have” books as I have multiple chronic illnesses. I know I’ll be re-reading it and looking over certain items again when I need some reassurance.
When our time is valuable due to being fatigued or feeling in pain most of the time those of us with disabilities or chronic illnesses want to use our time wisely. Some of us find hobbies that make us happy, do volunteer work or socialize with family and friends. But it has to be on our schedule, working around the time that we feel well enough to take part in these activities.
Some of us who are on Social Security Disability want to attempt to do some type of work again. We usually need to begin working part time with very few hours at the start. With the opportunities for starting a home business becoming much easier and more widespread, this is often the job choice that is made.
This is what I have done and I am happy to say that being a professional blogger is what I’ve longed to do. I work my own hours and am able to earn some extra income. It helps me to feel that I am contributing to society too.
Think about this type of work. If you have any questions on how to become a professional blogger, please contact me by leaving me a comment.
