{"id":1680,"date":"2015-06-04T21:14:53","date_gmt":"2015-06-04T21:14:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1680"},"modified":"2015-06-03T21:30:45","modified_gmt":"2015-06-03T21:30:45","slug":"chronic-illness-cleaning-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/06\/chronic-illness-cleaning-house.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Illness: Cleaning House"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Maureen<\/a>Life with a chronic illness can be cluttered quickly. There are all of those unused or partially used prescription bottles that litter our medicine drawers – oh, the ridiculousness of having to fill a whole prescription only to discover you’re allergic to it on the first dose! And, too, there are the objects with which to use the medications – inhaler extensions, spoons, droppers, vials, etc.<\/p>\n

Medical paraphernalia – shoe inserts, braces, canes,\u00a0wig brushes – oh, my! And, if your weight has yoyoed with your illness and\/or meds, you might have two or three whole wardrobes – small, medium, and large.<\/p>\n

I realize that my illness can bring physical changes and different meds and other things, but fairly regularly, I clean house. I take any unused or expired meds to a recycling center that accepts such things (if there isn’t one near you, you can probably ask your pharmacist what to do). This way, I’m not polluting our water system or a landfill.<\/p>\n

I take any and all items in good shape, including clothing and wigs, to a charity that will give them to someone who can really need them, but wouldn’t be able to afford them.<\/p>\n

Aging with lupus has shown me that I exercise differently now than I did when I was in my 30s. I’ve donated much of my earlier-life exercise equipment already, and will do more of that, no doubt, as I continue to age.<\/p>\n

I also regularly go through my medical files and purge it of duplicates, which seem to find their way into the files seemingly without my having anything to do with it! This way, I free up space and keep a coherent narrative of my health flowing.<\/p>\n

There’s no perfect time to clean house, but once done, I do get a great sense of achievement, and I’m happy that I’ve been able to help someone else, too!<\/p>\n

A lean, mean, lupie machine – or, at least one that isn’t tripping over unnecessary “stuff” – what a way to clean house and move ahead!<\/p>\n

Joys,<\/p>\n

Maureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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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\/1680","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=1680"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1681,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1680\/revisions\/1681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}