A dose of perspective

[cjsmith]

My cat is diabetic. Today my LJ-friend's cat had emergency surgery to remove a foreign object blockage in the small intestine.

My side effects from The Medicine Too Evil To Name included one loss of breakfast, annoying levels of sleep disruption for a month, and the need to eat more fiber. Other people's side effects have included death.

My idiopathic peripheral neuropathy stops me from hiking, biking, square dancing, and running. I just discovered today that my friend's idiopathic peripheral neuropathy has put her on disability for months, has left her on double-canes and in a wheelchair, and makes it an enormous challenge to navigate such things as curbs, doors, and elevators.

I declare a moratorium on me complaining, for a while. I think I'll count a few blessings instead.

Comments

[evilegg.livejournal.com]

You can turn this into something positive if you insist, but I wouldn't.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I have to be a ray of sunshine SOMEtimes, if only to cause a nice level of shock when my natural extra bitter state returns.

[evilegg.livejournal.com]

Ohh- bright candy outside, bitchy center.
I like it.

[jcgbigler.livejournal.com]

"I was sad because I had no shoes. Then I saw a man with no feet. So I asked him, 'Got any shoes you're not using?' " --attributed to Steven Wright

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Heh! Why can't these guys play at night?

[airporter.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear. I think I like Steven Wright.

[wooddragon.livejournal.com]

Sometimes perspective works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it's appreciated, sometimes it's not... Here's hoping it's working for you!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Today it's a big clue-bat upside the head.

[wooddragon.livejournal.com]

Sounds ouchie! How about some chocolate-covered bacon to make you feel better? (ganked from Pharyngula - I suspect it'd be tasty)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Two great tastes that... um... um... I think my brain just exploded!

[inflectionpoint.livejournal.com]

It is just as wrong in person.

My partner had leftover chocolate goop (from a chocolate fountain run at a party) and tasty crisp fresh bacon one morning. He did the obvious thing.

I had a bite. I can't say why, but it's wrong. I love chocolate. I love bacon. But... just so very wrong. Perhaps you can try it to enjoy the wrongness?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of things I've eaten just to experience the wrongness. Some of them I wound up liking (yellow curry sauce or peanut sauce on French fries); some of them I didn't (cherry Coke). Oddly enough, I always seem to be game to try more. :)

[jcgbigler.livejournal.com]

Chocolate-covered bacon? That sounds almost as bad as mayonnaise-flavored ice cream, which was the worst a bunch of us managed to come up with back when we were in college.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Was I in that conversation? It sounds eerily almost familiar.

I am betting fish-flavored ice cream would also suck. It would surprise me not at all to discover something like that readily available in, say, Tokyo.

[rfrench.livejournal.com]

Someone's been taking too much Neurontin...

[airporter.livejournal.com]

A fried egg, peanut butter and jam sandwich maybe?

Extra points for nutella or lemon spread.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

When I was in my early teens, my favorite peanut butter sandwich additive was orange Tic-Tacs. The only problem was the texture wasn't quite right. Potato chips were a lovely close second, with an excellent texture but sadly not so brainbending a flavor.

[zpdiduda.livejournal.com]

Then again, maybe we should come up with positive things about peripheral neuropathy itself.

I'll go first.

Uh...

--I rarely notice minor headaches anymore. Especially at night.

...

[okay, that's about the best I can do right now. I'll think on it some more, though.]

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I am forever exempt from Stoopid Female Shoes.

[eveningscribe.livejournal.com]

Hey me tooo! Except, well, because I was born with clubbed foots.

They've since been fixed, but not that fixed.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I think NOBODY's feet are that fixed, but I may be just the teensiest little bit biased. I know what those shoes can do to people who believe -- until it's way too late -- that they'll have no problem.

Wow, that sounds like a rather involved surgery. Do you have any discomfort now, or are you functionally all fine and just not about to get into Stoopid Shoes?

[airporter.livejournal.com]

I'm all out of pith at the moment, so I will say with sincerity that your charm and wit are a blessing unto others.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I'm all out of clever humor, so I will simply say thanks!

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Did you see R.'s post? My God. What a wringer she has been through. I now have a second mission to find a miracle worker doctor.

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

Wait, who's post? I haven't been reading LJ consistently, what did I miss???

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Given my experiences for the past four years, I could barely keep from crying when I read this.

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

Thanks for pointing me to her post. What an ordeal, the poor thing! I could barely keep from crying myself.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I finally lost it when she asked whether the not knowing was the worst part. I often remind myself of how bad other people's health symptoms are, to convince myself of how easy I have it... but I didn't want to admit that there was another human being out there who knew about the worst part.

[hnybny.livejournal.com]

Whenever things get bad I think "they could always get worse." SImple, but true.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It sure is. And it's easy to think of that as just a pithy saying, until you meet the person who has it worse. :-/