{"id":1913,"date":"2015-12-14T17:27:28","date_gmt":"2015-12-14T17:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1913"},"modified":"2015-12-14T17:27:28","modified_gmt":"2015-12-14T17:27:28","slug":"chronic-illness-avoiding-the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/12\/chronic-illness-avoiding-the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Illness: Avoiding the Gift that Keeps on Giving"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Second<\/a>We’re in the heart of holiday season, now, and there’s one “gift” that I’m sure you don’t want to receive – an infectious illness. Whether a cold, flu, or other “catchy” bug, an illness on top of the chronic variety we already live with can be a serious complication at worst, a holiday-hamperer at best.<\/p>\n

So, how do we avoid getting sick(er) at holiday time? Alas, there’s no easy answer. So many holiday warriors, determined to get all they can out of the festivities, parties, religious celebrations, and other once-a-year events, will throw caution to the wind and go forth with sniffles and sneezes galore. And as we know, at some point, we’ll come in contact with these unwanted intrusions and have to hope and pray that we’ll not fall to them.<\/p>\n

I think it’s a good idea to speak with our individual doctors at this time of year to go over illness prevention steps that are pertinent to each individual case. It’s also a good idea to practice saying, “no,” as hard as that can be. If some insist on exposing everyone else to their “gifts,” then it is perfectly within our right to insist on declining the “invitation.” Yes, it’s hard to cancel an activity at the last minute, or step aside if someone appears with a Rudolph-like nose and fever. But if others will not be conscientious, then we have to be extra cautious.<\/p>\n

Everyone hopes to have happy holidays, whatever days within we celebrate. The healthier, the better. As we “avoid the gift that keeps on giving,” we can be stronger – and happier – as these days unfold and the New Year dawns!<\/p>\n

Peace,<\/p>\n

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

We’re in the heart of holiday season, now, and there’s one “gift” that I’m sure you don’t want to receive – an infectious illness. Whether a cold, flu, or other “catchy” bug, an illness on top of the chronic variety we already live with can be a serious complication at worst, a holiday-hamperer at best.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[241,3,43,1242,4,578,383],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-encouragement-in-life","category-food-for-thought","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","category-goodness","category-heart-health"],"yoast_head":"\nChronic Illness: Avoiding the Gift that Keeps on Giving - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It's important to avoid the unwanted "gift" of infection during holiday season!\" \/>\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\/2015\/12\/chronic-illness-avoiding-the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chronic Illness: Avoiding the Gift that Keeps on Giving - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It's important to avoid the unwanted "gift" of infection during holiday season!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/12\/chronic-illness-avoiding-the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-14T17:27:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/10\/Second-close-up-of-picture-257x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mpratt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Chronic Illness: Avoiding the Gift that Keeps on Giving - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","description":"It's important to avoid the unwanted \"gift\" of infection during holiday season!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/12\/chronic-illness-avoiding-the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Chronic Illness: Avoiding the Gift that Keeps on Giving - 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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\/1913","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=1913"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1914,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1913\/revisions\/1914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}