{"id":657,"date":"2013-04-25T22:53:23","date_gmt":"2013-04-25T22:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=657"},"modified":"2013-04-23T21:03:54","modified_gmt":"2013-04-23T21:03:54","slug":"chronic-illness-riding-along","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/04\/chronic-illness-riding-along.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Illness: Riding Along"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/04\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic6.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-649\" alt=\"Maureen Pratt Author Pic\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/350\/2013\/04\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic6-246x300.jpg\" width=\"246\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>Several weeks ago, I learned that one of my lupus medications had begun to damage my retinas. I had to stop that medication immediately, but the hope was that I&#8217;d have some protection from it for up to a year, so no immediate substitute was needed.<\/p>\n<p>The &#8220;year&#8221; turned out to be two weeks. One evening, nothing. The next morning, I was in full flare and more &#8211; my sun- and fluorescent-light sensitivity have returned in a major way, and eveything else is following suit. Medication options are, unfortunately, quite limited. I&#8217;m waiting for insurance authorization for a med that must be compounded. One of the side effects is that it might turn my skin (all of it) yellow (!), and of course there are other side effects, too, that might occur. It&#8217;s much like starting out all over again with the disease &#8211; all the same symptoms, questions, frustrations, and glimpses of the divine through it all.<\/p>\n<p>In life with chronic illness, sometimes you\u00a0just feel like you&#8217;re riding along and sometimes you feel like your along for the ride.\u00a0At either time, the key is to develop a sense of balance that enables you to stay on the proverbial horse through trots, gallops, jumps, and balks.\u00a0Yes, with lupus, there are a lot of balks!<\/p>\n<p>Blessings for the day,<\/p>\n<p>Maureen<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Several weeks ago, I learned that one of my lupus medications had begun to damage my retinas. I had to stop that medication immediately, but the hope was that I&#8217;d have some protection from it for up to a year, so no immediate substitute was needed. The &#8220;year&#8221; turned out to be two weeks. One&hellip;<\/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],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-657","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"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Chronic Illness: Riding Along - 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\/2013\/04\/chronic-illness-riding-along.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chronic Illness: Riding Along - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Several weeks ago, I learned that one of my lupus medications had begun to damage my retinas. I had to stop that medication immediately, but the hope was that I&#8217;d have some protection from it for up to a year, so no immediate substitute was needed. The &#8220;year&#8221; turned out to be two weeks. One&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/04\/chronic-illness-riding-along.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-04-25T22:53:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-04-23T21:03:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/04\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic6-246x300.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: Riding Along - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","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\/2013\/04\/chronic-illness-riding-along.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Chronic Illness: Riding Along - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","og_description":"Several weeks ago, I learned that one of my lupus medications had begun to damage my retinas. I had to stop that medication immediately, but the hope was that I&#8217;d have some protection from it for up to a year, so no immediate substitute was needed. The &#8220;year&#8221; turned out to be two weeks. One&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/04\/chronic-illness-riding-along.html","og_site_name":"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","article_published_time":"2013-04-25T22:53:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-04-23T21:03:54+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/04\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic6-246x300.jpg"}],"author":"mpratt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/04\/chronic-illness-riding-along.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/04\/chronic-illness-riding-along.html","name":"Chronic Illness: Riding Along - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/04\/chronic-illness-riding-along.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/04\/chronic-illness-riding-along.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/04\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic6-246x300.jpg","datePublished":"2013-04-25T22:53:23+00:00","dateModified":"2013-04-23T21:03:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#\/schema\/person\/b47fd8e9d9cc9750d5779f75b8669a32"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/04\/chronic-illness-riding-along.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/04\/chronic-illness-riding-along.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/04\/chronic-illness-riding-along.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/04\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic6-246x300.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/04\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic6-246x300.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/04\/chronic-illness-riding-along.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Chronic Illness: Riding Along"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/","name":"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","description":"Beliefnet Voices","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#\/schema\/person\/b47fd8e9d9cc9750d5779f75b8669a32","name":"mpratt","description":"Several years ago, Maureen Pratt earned her Master of Fine Arts in Theater Arts\/Playwriting from UCLA's School of Theater, FIlm and Television. 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 &amp; 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\/657","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=657"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":660,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657\/revisions\/660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}