It's been a very tough year for my family, dealing with one crisis after another, from medical emergencies to legal situations we've never dealt with before to unprecedented car repairs (including replacing brakes on four cars since spring!). All of that also led to financial crises and plenty of stress. One of the biggest challenges we faced this year was when our son was assaulted and seriously injured while on a study abroad program. It was during that particular crisis that I realize that our past 16 years of living with chronic illness had actually helped us prepare to deal with all sorts of other crises in our lives. So, this article is about what happens when the unexpected happens and how to roll with the punches and get through the crisis - all lessons learned from a life with chronic illness.
Has it been this way for you? Has chronic illness taught you some lessons on how to deal with the unexpected? Please share your own stories or tips in the comments below.
The full article is reprinted here, with permission from ProHealth:
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Roll with the Punches
We’ve had a tough year with a lot of unexpected crises,
creating emotional stress, financial problems, and the need for fast action.
Most recently, when one son was assaulted in Europe and had to return early
from a study abroad program, a family member commented on how well we coped with
these kinds of emergencies, how we stayed calm and did what had to be done. It
made me realize that 16 years of living with chronic illness has taught us how
to go with the flow when things go wrong.
I have learned to expect the unexpected while living with
ME/CFS myself, plus for many years having two sons with the same disease and
one of them also battling tick infections. The only thing you can count on with
these illnesses is their unpredictability. I’ve lost count of the number of
times I’ve had to cancel time with friends at the last minute or couldn’t go to
my book club or our whole family had to cancel a trip. It’s never fun, but you
do get used to the rollercoaster life.
Our sons have grown up this way, learning to roll with the
punches and change plans at a moment’s notice. They’ve learned to bear the
disappointment of missing out on something but also to make the best of a bad
situation. When my oldest son relapsed from the flu and we had to cancel our usual
Thanksgiving trip to see family, we focused instead on the rare treat of being
in our own home for a holiday.
When we recently got that unexpected phone call from our son
in Italy, of course my husband and I were very upset. With so much experience
of crises under our belts, however, we quickly moved on to what needed to be
done. I contacted our son’s concussion specialist (he’d had one before), a
caring doctor who replied immediately with advice for our son and assessed him
long-distance with online concussion testing software. We spoke with our son
every day to assess his progress (or lack thereof), and when it became clear
that he couldn’t participate in any activities, we made arrangements to bring
him home early.
Back home the next day, our son kept thanking us for acting
quickly and bringing him home. We got him into the concussion specialist
immediately and followed the instructions for “brain rest.” Even at that point,
our son was remarkably positive about his experience. Yes, a horrible thing had
happened to him, and he missed two-thirds of the program he’d been looking
forward to…but he told us that his first week there had been amazing, that he’d
seen and done so many wonderful things and learned a lot.
Now, a month later, he is almost fully recovered. He can
think clearly, has returned to normal activities, and his headaches are almost
gone. His professor is working with him on an individual project to get credit
for the course. And we are hoping that the travel insurance (we never travel
without it!) will come through with reimbursement for us soon.
In the midst of all of this, I realized that living with
chronic illness has made us emotionally stronger and taught us to adapt when
things go wrong. All of those unpredictable days, weeks, and months taught us
how to cope with uncertainty and crisis. Here are some tips for when the
unexpected happens to you:
Take time to grieve.
It’s important to acknowledge and feel the raw emotions that come up when
something horrible happens. You can’t move forward until you allow yourself to
grieve. It’s OK to cry and let go and feel awful for a while. In fact, it’s
healthy and necessary.
Start moving forward.
Once you experience that anger and hurt and sadness, it’s time to start
thinking about what you can do to help. Even in our case, thousands of miles
from our son, we could contact the doctor, talk to our son frequently (he was very
upset at first), and begin thinking about what came next. Taking steps to
ameliorate the situation will also help you to move forward emotionally, as
long as you have first dealt with the grief.
Face one day at a
time. Try to think about what you can do right now, today, to help with the
crisis. It’s best not to worry too much about what comes next week or next year
because that can lead to ever-worsening anxiety. Instead, focus on today – or
even just this minute. Taking things one step at a time will help you to stay
calm and able to help.
Seek support. A
few days into our crisis, I realized I really
needed someone to talk to (besides my very supportive husband). I turned to my
online support group of parents whose kids are sick. True, this incident had
nothing to do with ME/CFS or the other chronic conditions covered in our group,
and it was the recovered son who was injured, but I knew they would “get it.”
And they did. I vented out all of my concerns and anxiety to our private group,
and – as always – they responded with compassion and understanding. It was just
what I needed. Try to find just the right source of support for your situation,
whether a friend, support group, or therapist.
Unexpected crises are not just a part of life with chronic
illness; horrible things happen in every
life at one time or another. When these things occur, though, our lives of
chronic illness have an unexpected silver lining. We’ve been training for this
ever since we got sick! You can use the skills and coping mechanisms you’ve
learned from your chronic illness world to help you through whatever else comes
up. As an added bonus, we can also help our loved ones to find their way
through whatever life throws at them. Hang on – it’s going to be a bumpy ride!
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