The Girl With Arthritis

I suppose you could compare being chronically ill to being a bird in a cage. The bird wants to soar high in the sky, but the cage keeps you away. Having a chronic illness is similar: you want to soar but you're too sore. Or, you know, sick or something. It doesn't really matter what's holding you back, it's the fact something is. But the cage is also a symbol of something else: How different your life is compared to the lives of others. I forgot what it's like to be healthy. I cannot tell you what 'healthy' life is like. I assume it's a lot like life now except without pain, hospitals, missing out and planning around abilites. I also assume you fit in better with the 'healthy' world. But I don't know for sure. The 'healthy world' and 'chronically ill world' are very different. I'm always reminded how different they are by people's reactions to my 'arthritis' talk. Sometimes I'll tell them what's happe...

I write a good portion of my day, whether it's for school, this blog, communication or leisure. Some of my favourite things to write are skits and sketches, specifically comedies. I actually will use some in the coming months to make a short film for art class. Anyway, some of that inspiration for my comedy skits actually comes from having arthritis. No, it's not funny to have arthritis. But, I do find the humour in some of the worse parts of it, as you might have witnessed on this blog. I don't want to be sad at all, and I'm too stressed from school and such to be serious all the time too. And I've found that a lot of the time, people will learn way more when they can laugh and not be serious (Thank you to Horrible Histories for teaching me this). Also, as a side note, most I do actually preform these skits. Typically they require a wide variety of characters. So I play them all. Rest assured, you can only imagine how many mustaches I've ever drawn on. :) ...

Hi. So the next few days are going to be rather odd, please bare with me. I'm going back to hospital soon, so please understand I most likely won't post anything on Thursday. Despite having a hospital visit, I probably won't write about it since it is not arthritis related (kidney related). This may cause a delay in timing of my posts, but I will try my best to keep it around my usual time. But, I'm trying! I don't have anything to really write about today, other than that of above. So I'll just leave you with some arthritis humour. What goes creak in the night? An arthritis ninja. :)

I don't feel like pouring my emotions into a post today. Today, I don't want to talk about my arthritis. In fact, I'm not even in the mood to complain about homework today. No, today I'm just going to tell you about a fun time I had. The other night my guy friend came over for dinner, and after dinner some of my family came over. While he and I tried to watch a Harry Potter movie, my young cousin decided she must ask us a "silly question and you're going to laugh."  She asked if we were boyfriend and girlfriend, to which we replied no. Then she proceeded to ask our favourite Disney Characters. And some how we we're actors in her play of Hercules and Cinderella falling in love and getting married. Of course, Hercules and Cinderella with odd acents because you must distort your voice when acting in a child's play. I think the best part of this was that we got this on film. She very much enjoyed that she "Got to direct (and be the narrato...

The other day I decided to use Google to look up funny arthritis pictures. Some of them were extremely funny. Some of them were tremendouly depressing. Funny ones including things that said "Did you try this natural remedy?" or "My grandmother has that too" accompanied by hilarious comics. Depressing ones included an angel leading an elderly person to heaven saying, "Don't worry, that arthritis won't bother you anymore," and such. I'm a jokester, as most people know this fact about me quite well, but it was simply depressing to see comics of the elderly being led into death with promises of that being the only way to end their pain. Maybe I read too far into those pictures, but I nearly cried. So many elderly are abandoned by their families, and so many are sick. They need their loved one's to be with them, not an instant death the moment they have arthritis. Just because something is older, doesn't mean it's 'out of date.' ...

I'm very used to getting my blood drawn: It's a rather common occurence for me. However when I went for it recently, I got the nurse who isn't terribly good at it and since the other nurses were busy I had to have her. She has a rather unsteady hand and insterted the needle way too far. It hurt more than necessary. Anyway, I find most people very uncomfortable during needles so I have a list of funny things to do during a blood test. 1.)  Ask if you can keep the needle to remember the day by. 2.) After the needle is finished, smile at the nurse and go "Now it's your turn!" 3.) If someone is getting their blood drawn/a shot nearby, stare at them with a huge grin. If they look at you, continue and don't lose eye contact. 4.) If there is a box filled with tubes with different colour caps, tell the nurse which ones you want. 5.) Halfway through, gasp and go "Don't take all my blood!" The list is rather short: I've never really thoug...

Last night as I talked with some mates through a webcam, I was on this website for people who are 'chronically ill.' I cringe at that phrase. Chronic = very serious and long lasting. Illness = I'm sick. And I know I have a chronic disease: I know that I'm sick and probably will be for a very long time. But anyway, some of the things I came across on this website was really funny. Suggestions that people who are ill get that are simply  hilarious. What medical words really mean, or at least to us. It's a huge relief to know there are more people just like you. But what I laughed at, sometimes my friends didn't when I read it off. I know they wouldn't get all of it so I didn't read all of it to them, just things that I forget people don't understand. Like when people tell you that you take too many medicines and they're making you sick. They don't know. When I know I'm going to the hospital, I'll tell my friends I'm going to be ab...