This year’s flu season is already shaping up to be scary. It’s early, virulent, and rapidly overwhelming many U.S. hospitals and doctors’ offices.<\/p>\n
One of the things that makes this time of year very worrisome is the thought of adding a severe case of the flu to all the other health challenges lupus, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and other patients have. Getting sicker when you’re already sick poses a number of health concerns, some of which can be life-threatening.\u00a0When someone lives with a chronic (and expensive) illness, heaping flu upon other conditions brings extra expense – and saps precious, rare energy.\u00a0 It can cause complications, both related to the flu and related to the other illnesses someone has.\u00a0As I know with lupus, it can take much longer to get over a case of the flu than the average recovery time, and lupus can flare worse, too, raising further difficulties.<\/p>\n
During this season, it might seem to healthier people as if some of us with chronic illness are “retreating,” being alarmist, or exaggerating the problem that flu poses. We might avoid crowded places such as malls, theaters, or even church, opt to eat in more often than eating out, or avoid a coworker who is ill. If we do venture out, we might decline to shake\u00a0hands, hug others in greeting, or\u00a0distance ourselves from a\u00a0friend’s children. I’ve been known to beat a very hasty retreat from an elevator or store when I perceive that someone nearby\u00a0seems ill.\u00a0 I also remind\u00a0friends and others that, if I arrive somewhere and someone is ill, I will leave (and I tell them that it’d be wonderful if they’d\u00a0let me know in advance, so I don’t even go out).\u00a0I don’t mean to be rude, just need to be prudent.<\/p>\n
These and other precautions are not exactly convenient, nor are they enjoyable. But chronic illness is not convenient or enjoyable, either.\u00a0 And sometimes, being kind to others starts with ourselves and doing all we can to to take care of the precious bodies and lives we’re given. Avoiding the flu altogether might not be possible, but learning some advocacy tools will be valuable far beyond this current flu season.<\/p>\n
Blessings for the day,<\/p>\n
Maureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This year’s flu season is already shaping up to be scary. It’s early, virulent, and rapidly overwhelming many U.S. hospitals and doctors’ offices. One of the things that makes this time of year very worrisome is the thought of adding a severe case of the flu to all the other health challenges lupus, diabetes, heart…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[163,350,351,347,286,348,10,353,352,18,349],"class_list":["post-397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","tag-advocacy","tag-care","tag-care-of-self","tag-chronis-illness","tag-flu","tag-flu-season","tag-health","tag-healthy","tag-invection","tag-lupus","tag-precautions"],"yoast_head":"\n