Heartbreak

It breaks my heart into a thousand pieces when I read Glenn Frey the founder of the Eagles died. I had no idea he had Rheumatoid Arthritis and Ulcerative Colitis, two for the price of one I guess. This happens more than you think. Once a person is diagnosed with one autoimmune disease chances are they can be diagnosed with another. Like I said my heartbreaks. Reports said he died from complications due to the pneumonia. Sadly people with autoimmune disease get pneumonia very easily because their immune systems are compromised from these diseases. What does that mean? A good example would be if a person with autoimmune disease gets a cold and a healthy person gets a cold chances are the healthy person will get better in a week to ten days while the autoimmune patients cold may take weeks to get better. Often the cold turns into an infection like bronchitis, sinus infections, and pneumonia to list a few. It's never easy when you get a cold and as soon as it starts you begin to wonder what's to come. Pneumonia is always in the back of your mind especially when you have dealt with colds turning into infections in the past. It can be an exhausting way to live having to always be one step ahead and aware of all that is going on with your body at all times.  I think about Glenn and when I think of his death I don't think about his pneumonia. I think of how much he must have suffered. I wonder how many years he suffered with the symptoms of RA and UC, each one alone is a brutal disease but to live with both? It sure couldn't have been easy for him or his family. Yes there are treatments for these diseases but it doesn't cure them or take away all the symptoms. My heartbreaks.

I wrote the above last evening when I heard the news of Glenn's death and decided I would sleep on the rest of what I would add to this. You know how life is, at least for me, pondering on the crap parts of life takes time. I wonder when people heard of Glenn's death and disease's if they even cared about the why. It's like cancers, heart disease, etc. The fact that no one can argue is that if it isn't happening to you it sort of passes in one ear and out the other. Sad fact but true fact. When you or someone you love struggles with one of these illnesses on a daily basis you understand this. You learn to deal with illness on your own because the world is busy. People don't care much because you aren't fixable. They don't know what to do to help you so they avoid you or pretend it can't be as bad as it is. Who has time for ongoing illness that will more than likely never end. The chronically ill wait for cures to all these crappy diseases but sometimes death comes before cure. I wonder why we never heard about Glenn's illnesses. We all deal with our struggles in our own ways. Some people are an open book while others are very private. It is all a choice. I wonder if people keep things private because in an odd sort of way it makes it not as bad as it really is. I don't know the answer to any of this because of all the dynamics that go along with being ill. It's like layer upon layer upon layer to infinity. Heartbreak.

Today we live. We do the best we can whether we deal with chronic illness or know someone who does. What can we do? Live and do the best we can!

God Bless!

Dianne