{"id":720,"date":"2013-06-05T15:18:25","date_gmt":"2013-06-05T15:18:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=720"},"modified":"2013-06-04T00:33:56","modified_gmt":"2013-06-04T00:33:56","slug":"chronic-illness-and-pain-go-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/06\/chronic-illness-and-pain-go-team.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Illness and Pain: Go, Team!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Maureen<\/a>We who live with chronic illness and pain are athletes in more ways than one. And rather than isolated athletes, running a solo race, we are actually part of a team that takes in ourselves, our loved ones, our doctors and others who provide medical care, and our spiritual supports.<\/p>\n

Far from being theoretical or metaphorical, the concept of being part of a team is very, very everyday real. I experienced this last week, when I lost hearing in one of my ears. Not only was my doctor instrumental in figuring out the problem and plotting a course to take care of it, but his staff was wonderfully responsive and caring, too, taking extra time to work with me when I was decidedly worried. A few years ago, because of lupus, I permanently lost hearing, especially in my right ear. This newest loss was affecting my “better” ear, so you can imagine how much of a problem that was. And it was because of the timely teamwork\u00a0including me and those in my doctor’s office that the situation turned out well in the end.<\/p>\n

When we recognize the need for teamwork in our healthcare, we give ourselves the benefit of enthusiastic support. We also take off the feeling of being a “victim” to our illness\/pain, and become part of the team, part of the group dedicated to helping the situation resolve as best as possible. In concrete terms, this means actively participating in doctor’s appointments, asking questions and seeking understanding for our symptoms, conditions, medications, and other things vital to our care. We work with our doctors to chart a course, whether through a crisis or an ongoing situation, and we understand and rely on the roles played by others on the team – the relatives who may provide transportation, the pharmacist who can explain medications, and the doctor’s nurse who schedules tests and appointments.<\/p>\n

As patients with a team, we are\u00a0 not alone. We are, at our best, active members of a dedicated group that has a common goal – better health – and with all of that, a great reason to cheer!<\/p>\n

Blessings for the day,<\/p>\n

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

We who live with chronic illness and pain are athletes in more ways than one. And rather than isolated athletes, running a solo race, we are actually part of a team that takes in ourselves, our loved ones, our doctors and others who provide medical care, and our spiritual supports. Far from being theoretical or…<\/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":[616,29,44,614,144,20],"class_list":["post-720","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","tag-cheer","tag-chronic-illness","tag-chronic-pain","tag-medical-team","tag-support","tag-understanding"],"yoast_head":"\nChronic Illness and Pain: Go, Team! - 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\/06\/chronic-illness-and-pain-go-team.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chronic Illness and Pain: Go, Team! - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We who live with chronic illness and pain are athletes in more ways than one. 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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\/720","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=720"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":722,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720\/revisions\/722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}