Last time I wore my “Ask Me” shirt a person I see all the time questioned me.
Person – Josh why do you talk so much about the disease you have and you know it is really gross?
Me – When I was diagnosed I had never heard of it, I thought I could be fixed, wrong. Yes it is gross sometimes, but it is more about pain, joint pain, eye pain, extreme gut pain, pain that never lets up. It’s about these medicines I take to stay alive, some with devastating side effects = more pain.
Person – Why do you joke and carry on and when others poke fun at you, you laugh?
Me – If I weren’t joking and cutting up, I would be crying, which by the way I do a lot of. I don’t just cry about me, I see horror stories going through my FB and Twitter news feeds. Most on-line see once or twice a year something terrible in their feeds, I see it everyday and sometimes several times a day. It’s most of the time not people dying but someone going through hell, things “NORMAL” people can’t comprehend.
I laugh at people’s poking fun, because most of the time it is them trying to make me feel better. I get offended sometimes if I don’t know them well because they don’t know there is a line to not cross, but I still laugh anyway. At some point down the road when I know them better I tell them about that line, but by then they usually know.
Person – How do you do this?
Me – I have no choice. This is “MY” life, the only one I get, and I make the best of it, I try everyday to live to the fullest. Chronic illness is hard, very hard and I have three of them. So you may have to make exception for me sometimes, but never feel sorry for me, never.
Person – Wow! Thanks!!!
Me – Wow, thanks for reading my shirt, asking and listening.
Crohnie Man 