Spoons

We see and hear daily about people who recently become diagnosed with various chronic illnesses, for example the very popular (for want of a better word) cancer. Be that as it may (and even I am guilty of this) we still take for granted the time that we have and the strength with which we carry out our daily activities. A very good friend of mine had been living with Fibromyalgia for awhile now; and whilst I understand what this chronic illness is and what it entails, I will never truly grasp the concept of what it is to live with this disease. She sent out an email recently with a story from a a blog "But you don't look sick" which she hoped would help put her sickness into perspective for us.

This story is a true experience the author had with her friend in which she tried to explain what it was like to live with Lupus. The illustration she used was a pile of spoons. In essence the spoons represented the amount of things she had to do in a day. The interesting thing however is that with every activity she did a spoon was taken away, but in going through the daily activities by midday almost all the spoons were gone and there were many other things that needed to be considered.

To be really honest, my heart instantly felt heavy. I read that story, and even though already I knew that living with her illness day in and day out was and still is a tremendous burden she will forever have to bear, what she goes through on a daily basis really hit home. You never truly value the time you have until it is taken away.

If you have ever had a friend or just known someone with a chronic illness I encourage you to follow the link and read the story. Above all things appreciate the fact that the time that they choose to spend with you is precious don't take it for granted, and live life realising that anyone even you could end up in their position so it's worth it to take the time to understand what they are going through. God's willing when I graduate and I am a practising physician, I am glad that I have this experience to draw upon so that I can keep my perspective when dealing with my patients. It will be worth it in their eyes I believe, that even though there is a certain amount of professionalism that is necessary, to show compassion.

Yours,

Use your spoons wisely...:-)