Bedrest: it's a cure-all, I tell you!
A month ago, my seasonal asthma kicked in. In previous years, I've required hospitalization and been close to death on more than one occasion.
In the past, even on good days, I'd be incapable of all forms of exertion - walking any distance or climbing stairs, for example. And on bad days, acute hypoxia would leave me incapable of recognizing when I needed emergency medical attention. Mac has, quite literally, saved my life on more than one occasion.
This year, as my symptoms worsened, I took to my bed expecting at some point to end up back in hospital,. It didn't happen: it seems I've gotten away lightly this year. I've had symptoms - sometimes they've been debilitating, mostly they've been irritating - but nothing like in previous years.
So what's changed? The only difference I can see is that , in the past, I've tried to work through my asthma season, ignoring the symptoms and carrying on like I'm not ill. It doesn't work, of course - I used to quickly become exhausted and eventually I'd be forced to lie down. This year, I did things differently. I didn't try to soldier on. When I got sick, I went to bed and stayed there until I got better. It worked!
Mac regards this as the right way to respond to illness but, for me, it's revolutionary. I was brought up to soldier on, and not to let things get the better of you. My family's attitude to illness held that symptoms, unless obviously and immediately life threatening, were to be ignored. In practice, this meant that, whatever the complaint, if your head wasn't falling off you would likely be told to "get on with it". To even acknowledge a symptom was tantamount to giving in to it. And "giving in" was the worst crime in the book.
Mmm. You know, maybe Mac's right, perhaps I do have a characteristically male attitude to illness.
Anyway, I’m up and about again.
