10 THings you can say to someone with a Chronic Illness...good article

[agate]

Hah. I doubt that that would happen. Most doctors and clinics I know of have a penalty if you cancel with less than 24 hours' notice. And a "no show" is the very worst thing you can be. You might find yourself out in the cold if you're ever a no-show.

[Howie]

Yeah, I had to pay a penalty one time. I can't find any place new, even if I had a map. GPS MAYBE if I started soon enough. This one was short notice, and my sister was out of town, and she always takes me to a first time visit, then I will know how to get there.

I even called to tell them I couldn't make it. A month later, I got a bill for a doctor I never saw. I hated it, but paid it.

[SalpalSally]

I like number 6.

Yes I agree that is a good one.

[nuthatch]

I hate trying to explain myself to someone. They just don't get it and I'm embarrassed.
I call my 92 year old mother every day, but dread the questions she always asks ... "What time did you get up?" and "What did you do today?"
The answers are almost always the same ... too late and nothing!

[agate]

Sadly, people who are quite old often don't really want answers to questions they ask. I have a SIL who is nearly 90. She won't talk on the phone any more but whenever I have personal contact with her, I would answer as you're doing with your grandmother, Joan/nuthatch.

[Lazarus]

I hate trying to explain myself to someone. They just don't get it and I'm embarrassed.
I call my 92 year old mother every day, but dread the questions she always asks ... "What time did you get up?" and "What did you do today?"
The answers are almost always the same ... too late and nothing!

Hello,
Why not just get creative...and loving. The truth or accuracy is not what is really important here...your mother probably wants to hear your voice.. Does that sound possible?

I regret phone conversations I had with my mother. I was always annoyed that she did not understand or ask me sensitive questions. I realize now that I was the insensitive one. My mother lived alone and must have needed people to talk with and I think I did not make the phone calls easy. It would have been better for us both to make the talking lighter, even silly. We could have laughed and loved more with less concern about getting it right!

[funnylegs4]

Thank you! Good to know. :)

[Virginia]

I have one friend who, when I say I am just too fatigued to do anything, she responds with "Yea I know, I am tired too." I keep thinking you just do not get it.

[Gary]

I have one friend who, when I say I am just too fatigued to do anything, she responds with "Yea I know, I am tired too." I keep thinking you just do not get it.

Yeah I know exactly what you mean. The other day someone pointed out to me that a mutual acquaintance has MS and she ran the Race to Robie Creek (a big race down in Boise).

[SalpalSally]

I have one friend who, when I say I am just too fatigued to do anything, she responds with "Yea I know, I am tired too." I keep thinking you just do not get it.

Soooooo true, ugh!

[Frog42]

Yeah I know exactly what you mean. The other day someone pointed out to me that a mutual acquaintance has MS and she ran the Race to Robie Creek (a big race down in Boise).

I think most of us know at least one person like that.

[Howie]

But that's something we need to tell people about MS, it's different for everyone. Time has nothing to do with it.

One person may have had MS for just a year, and is already using a wheelchair. Another may have had it five years, and can run races.

How long you have had MS has nothing to do with how disabled you are.

[SalpalSally]

But that's something we need to tell people about MS, it's different for everyone. Time has nothing to do with it.

One person may have had MS for just a year, and is already using a wheelchair. Another may have had it five years, and can runthateMS races.

How long you have had MS has nothing to do with how disabled you are.

True, I wasn't really disabled until 40 yrs afterDX.
and now it's more the arthritis than the MS.

[Howie]

The same here Sally. I haven't had MS as long as you have, but the arthritis in my spine is what's having an affect on how I walk. Have our Golden Years begun yet?

[SalpalSally]

No and they never will.