No more settling for feeling bad

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Today I feel great! I can sit up straight. I can walk standing tall. I’m smiling. I’m laughing. I’m joking with my co-workers. The other day was a totally different story.
I still anchored 5 hours of live news. I still interviewed people live on the air. I still adlibbed about breaking news. But, I could barely sit up straight. I couldn’t walk well. At times, I could barely breathe. The shooting knife-like pains ran from my diaphragm down through my intestines. It was so intense, and familiar. I’ve lived with these pains for over 30 years. But somehow, they felt much more intense this time.
You see, these pains disappeared 18 months ago when I gave up gluten. Gone, along with pounding headaches. So, what happened the other day? Well, the common word is ‘contamination.’ I must have eaten something that was tainted with gluten and since I’ve been ‘clean’ for so long it affected me - hard.
I’m not sharing this to whine, or to ask for sympathy. I’m sharing this because when we feel TERRIBLE nothing else seems to matter. The world closes around us and we go into a cave of pain. It can be scary and isolating. We deal with it and when the pain goes away, often we forget about that cave and move on. But I’ve now realized the importance of remembering that cave. WE DON’T DESERVE TO SETTLE FOR THAT PAIN!
If you have bouts (or near constant) pain, I implore you to remember that pain and know…  IT. IS. NOT. NORMAL. Please see a doctor. And if necessary, see a different one after that. For 30 years I was told to eat more fiber, sleep more, stress less, eat an apple a day, relax, cut fat. I did. Nothing changed. The pain was erratic, always unexpected and intense. I settled that it was ‘just a part of my life.’  What I’m saying right now is LET’S NOT SETTLE! We deserve better!
So, today, now that I feel better - feeling like myself -  I can be a good co-worker, a good wife, a good professor, a good mother. I want more days like this instead of the other. I hope you can more better days, too.  

Comments

  1. meramaid5December 3, 2018 at 12:18 AM

    Kim, I feel for you. No matter how we feel health wise we have to keep it together for our family. I’ve got 15 health issues(including removal of large intestine), I am in pain 99% of the time. My son with ADHD took High School AP US history this year. He is good with Honor classes plus playing golf on the school team, he is a junior. So, no matter how bad I feel, I am tutoring him with AP homework. We have to somehow be strong and not give up. I will be praying for your health.

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