{"id":1195,"date":"2014-05-27T00:54:40","date_gmt":"2014-05-27T00:54:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1195"},"modified":"2014-05-25T01:07:57","modified_gmt":"2014-05-25T01:07:57","slug":"chronic-illness-developing-a-fighting-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/05\/chronic-illness-developing-a-fighting-spirit.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Illness: Developing a Fighting Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Maureen<\/a>Oh, my word, another diagnosis. Just when I thought I’d “collected the whole set” of lupus-related, autoimmune illnesses, I’ve been given another. And with it is another medication, monitoring by another specialist, and all the other things that go with it. More about the diagnosis later. In this blog, I wanted to give a few thoughts about developing a fighting spirit that does not take away from faith, joy, and having a life that contains positive and nurturing elements.<\/p>\n

I’ve always been a fighter against the constraints imposed by lupus. Not that I try to ignore them or throw them to the wind. Rather, I try to be creative, still intent upon doing the things I like to do, albeit in a different way. “Fighting,” in this sense, does not mean “getting angry with,” but acknowledging whatever health challenge has arisen, and then moving toward the “what do I do now, medically, personally, spiritually?”<\/p>\n

My fight always includes God. I don’t see Him as an adversary, but someone right alongside me as I move ahead. The same with my friends and family members with whom I am close (and my doctors). Drawing on their encouragement, support, humor, and knowledge is essential to avoid being a victim of a new or ongoing health situation.<\/p>\n

Planning concretely is another good way to meet the challenge of health problems. Make and keep those doctors’ appointments, learn as much as possible, formulate a plan with the medical team, find positive ways to cope.<\/p>\n

With these and other steps that take me from a position of “Oh, really?” to “Okay, now what do I do?” I can develop and nurture a fighting spirit within the context of faith and light, building strength all the way forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oh, my word, another diagnosis. Just when I thought I’d “collected the whole set” of lupus-related, autoimmune illnesses, I’ve been given another. And with it is another medication, monitoring by another specialist, and all the other things that go with it. More about the diagnosis later. In this blog, I wanted to give a few…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,43,4,379,1],"tags":[29,44,252,583,45,1065,47,1067,18,1066],"class_list":["post-1195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-encouragement-in-life","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","category-lupus-2","category-uncategorized","tag-chronic-illness","tag-chronic-pain","tag-diagnosis","tag-diagnosis-of-lupus","tag-faith","tag-fighting-spirit","tag-god","tag-keeping-faith","tag-lupus","tag-new-diagnosis"],"yoast_head":"\nChronic Illness: Developing a Fighting Spirit - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/05\/chronic-illness-developing-a-fighting-spirit.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chronic Illness: Developing a Fighting Spirit - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Oh, my word, another diagnosis. 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She expected to be writing scripts. God had other plans. A few years after her graduation, Maureen was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of organ-involved lupus. Her life turned upside down as she grappled with the effects of the illness and other health conditions that ensued. She was no stranger to serious health challenges; even as a child, Maureen had survived numerous bouts of pneumonia, flu, and other infections. But lupus made her take a fresh look at her life goals - and took herlifelong, strong Catholic Christian faith and writing in a direction she'd never imagined. Today, Maureen writes and speaks about walking with the Lord while living with chronic pain and illness. Her most recent book is \"Don't Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough (Franciscan Media). She is also the author of, \"Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain & Illness\" (Image Books\/Randomhouse), \"Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy\" (Twenty-Third Publications), \"The First Year: Hypothyroidism, Second Edition\" (Perseus) and \"Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your LIfe.\" She writes the syndicated column, \"Living Well,\" for Catholic News Service, and has also written for Saint Anthony Messenger Magazine, Journey for Women Magazine, The Upper Room Magazine, LupusNow, and Arthritis Today. Maureen's health continues to be a challenge, however she feels honored to be able to bring her perspective, from experience and knowledge, to others. \"Good Days...Bad Days with Maureen Pratt\" is a new way for Maureen to reach people who carry the burden of illness and pain in their lives, or who care for someone who does. Through the blog, she hopes to bring issues of health, wellness, and spirit into focus and, especially, inspire others that, no matter what health challenges, illness, or hardships they endure, each person can find a good way to realize the wonderful potential God has placed within each heart and soul.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.maureenpratt.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/author\/mpratt"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1195"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1197,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1195\/revisions\/1197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}