My wife, Carol, and I have a long list of diseases and
conditions between us. In most cases we have a diagnosis, explanation, and some
sort of treatment that helps manage whatever it is. Not the way we prefer life,
but a reality we can, and do, live with it pretty well.
So when Carol recently came down with something really nasty—headaches,
earaches, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, no appetite, and extreme weakness—we were
off to the doctor for a diagnosis and a time-tested treatment. It was not to
be.
After numerous tests at two medical clinics and a hospital
there was general agreement about what wasn’t the cause. Her heart, lungs,
liver, and other organs were fine. Good. Her condition was caused by a virus
(we had our flu shots), probably. Adult Viral Syndrome was the consensus; maybe
related to the newest flu strains. The treatment was unanimous—“Go home and
take it easy and in a while you’ll feel better.” Kind of a helpless feeling. No
pills, no procedures, no miracle injection. Just wait. Hard to do.
I discovered that not
knowing what to do and not knowing
when she would get better, or worse, was difficult for both of us. I hovered a
lot, made sure she had water and a warm blanket, and mostly was a useless
onlooker. Eventually, after more than five weeks, she is getting better.
Will it (whatever it is) come back again? Could it be worse?
What can we do to prevent it? I guess I’ll need to learn more tolerance for the
unknown. But I’ll always feel more comfortable with the diseases I know than
those mysterious ailments that can come and go.
axman
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