#illness

[scribblechicken]

bedrest

[somethingstrangeishere]

TW: leprosy

Baldwin IV with his mommy 🥺

She tries to cheer up her precious boy by doing something sweet for him.

"No, my dear, those bandages don't make you any worse! Please stop putting yourself down for how you look...Look, I made a bow for you! You're cute. I love you, Baldwin."

***

I don't know if you've ever had similar thoughts...I just felt like speaking up. Honestly, it's very hard to put my thoughts and convey what I'm feeling (I'm not a writer and also not a native English speaker), and to be completely honest, as I think about it, my heart hurts and my eyes water. So if you read this - thank you, and sorry for taking up your time. If not - well, I've eased my soul one way or another by speaking out.

***

My heart melts at the thought of a warm, understanding and trusting relationship between parents and children, and I also love the dynamics of family relationships. In this context, mother/son. I don't know, and no one knows anymore, about the relationship Baldwin had with his mother, whether they were close, but I'm not relying on historical reference, but on my interpretation and feelings.

For a good loving mother, her child is the best, the most precious, the most loved and desired. But life does not always turn to you and your child in a good way. Some people are unlucky - whether you are a king or a peasant, a sinner or a saint - fate does not care.

How does a mother feel when her son is mortally ill? Put yourself in her shoes. Just try it.

***

You hold your newborn baby in your arms. Here it is, your little bundle of joy, so tiny, so adorable... You want to give him all the best, now your whole world is him, your little angel!

Your son is growing up, taking his first steps, saying his first words. You dream about his future, you love him so much...

Time passes, you live in love and care for him. And you hope that it will always be like this - or as long as possible...

...Now forget about it.

Suddenly you are hit with devastating news - your son has leprosy. It knocks you off your feet, it chokes you, it tramples you into the ground, tears your heart to pieces. At that moment, as soon as you find out, you see nothing in front of you and hear nothing. Your mind is empty, and there is only one thought of your son, your treasure. Doomed, cursed. If there really is a God, why did he let this happen? Why your child? They say leprosy is a curse from God. Why curse an innocent child?!

Pain, despair, anguish. You want to weep, You want to grab your son, hold him close and never let go. You realise he's doomed. But he doesn't realise it yet.

As time goes on, his health gets worse. Your baby does not understand what is happening to him - he is scared, he is confused, he is waiting for your support and comfort. You smile at him, you give him everything you can - but inside your heart is pounding and tearing as if it were breaking your ribs. Every night you're choked with tears. Your son is your flesh and blood, you gave him life, you brought him into this world, you condemned him to this existence...

Time passes, you do your best, but it seems as if God himself has turned away from you. You pray to all the saints, you beg the Virgin Mary - she is a mother too, she must hear, she cannot fail to understand! But nothing changes.

Your son is growing up, and every year his condition gets worse. His skin is covered with leprosy spots. His eyesight is getting worse. He's always tired, he can't live without the help of doctors and medicines. He's rotting alive. People look askance. People judge. People see a monster. All you see is your angel. Every day you swear to love and care for him, swear you won't leave him...

***

A young 16 years old boy wins a battle. How proud you are of him! How weak his body is, but how strong his spirit. But he too has his moments of vulnerability...

...Especially when he fully realises he doesn't have long to live. He seems to accept it - or pretend to accept it...

How do you feel?

How a mother might feel when she realises that she may see her son die? Bury the one she brought into this world. To live to see that moment is something she doesn't want to do.

Thank you if you read to the end! I'm crying right now😭

[bunnykitty13]

GOOD NEWS no cancer my appointment went perfectly fine :D

[great-and-small]

My grandfather and my godfather (a beloved neighbor and dear family friend) had a long standing bet- for one dollar- about who would die first. Both of them being slightly pessimistic (in the funny way), they both insisted that they themselves would be the first to die. Any time my grandfather had a health scare, he’d gleefully call up my godfather to boast that he’d be passing “any day now” and he was sure to win the bet. It was a big family joke and they were always amiably sparring and comparing notes about who was in worse shape, medically speaking.

When my grandfather was in hospice care dying of liver cancer, my godfather was quite ill also. It took him great effort to make the journey to see his dying friend. As he came into the room, supported by a family member, he shuffled to my grandpa’s bedside and silently handed him a dollar bill. He was ceding his loss of the bet, as they both knew who was going first. My grandpa had been in quite bad shape for a while and was no longer able to speak but let me tell you he snatched that dollar with unexpected strength and literally laughed aloud. He knew exactly what the gesture meant and he couldn’t help but find the humor within the grief. It was the last time any of us heard my grandpa laugh, as he passed shortly after.

When I talk about my appreciation for “dark humor” I’m not so much thinking about edgy jokes, but rather the human instinct to somehow, impossibly, both find and appreciate the absurdity that is so often folded into the profound grief of life and death. When I tell this story I think it kind of perturbs people sometimes, but it’s honestly one of my favorite memories about two men I really deeply admired. I could never hope for anything more than for my loved ones to remember me laughing until the very end, and taking joy in a little joke as one of my final acts.

[nemfrog]

Home health care. The real story book. 1927.

Internet Archive

[mysharona1987]

[one-time-i-dreamt]

My friends and I were all doctors in House M.D. and the only obvious symptom was that the patient had no face or head. Just like. A void.

[myalgicencephalomyelitiscfstom]

[desultory-suggestions]

If you are technically capable of going out or doing something during a chronic illness flare-up, that doesn’t mean it isn’t debilitating. You shouldn’t have to push yourself through pain, and it's okay to say "I could but I shouldn't. I could but I don't want to."

[theshitpostcalligrapher]

Guesss who got reinfected with strep throat???

[whumpacabra]

“Are you sure you didn’t have a nightmare? You’re shaking.”

“I’m shivering; there’s a difference.”

“I don’t think that’s…wait, let me just - holy shit, where’s the thermometer? You’re burning up.”

[incognitopolls]

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[365filmsbyauroranocte]

The Body Beautiful (Ngozi Onwurah, 1991)

[sarathrwizard]

I Care. Chapter 4 (Part 1/2) (Rottmnt comic)

Splinter has come back home! Maybe he will know what to do! But with Donnies intense fever and Leos uncertain fate, this doesn't look much brighter than it did before, does it. Speaking of which, what's wrong with Leo?

Next part:

Previous part:

[great-and-small]

One of the hardest things about working in a veterinary ER is delivering bad news. I feel like at least once a shift someone is blindsided by their pet being diagnosed with a condition they’ve never heard of before. In many cases this is unavoidable but I really feel that some of the most common critical emergencies I see would be easier for owners to process if they had prior knowledge about the illness.

The following infographic is far from a comprehensive list and truthfully I have a LOT more to say about diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of each of these conditions. However, this image shows just a few of the major points that I wish owners had been able to prepare for prior to hearing about them in the ER. Some of these conditions are preventable and some are not but they all require an owner to make difficult decisions in a crisis situation. If your pet fits into one of these categories, please just do a quick google about the condition, and maybe discuss with your vet signs that you can watch for at home.

[whispers-whump]

love a good forehead fever check as much as the next gal but like we’re sleeping on so much fever checking potential here

overly warm hands, palms just beginning to sweat

a rapid pulse throbbing under glistening skin

feeling the warmth radiating off of whumpee through a thin t-shirt

even better, cool hands against the overheated skin of a bare, aching back

grabbing whumpee’s forearm and finding the unnatural heat there

a loved whumpee’s legs resting across caretaker’s lap, limbs hot on their thighs

the top of a head, hair damp and scalp burning when caretaker rests their chin on whumpee’s head

the back of a flushed neck, cupped tenderly in a hand

overheated thighs, maybe gripped through loose sweatpants or mostly bare because whumpee felt too hot for anything but shorts

squeezing a shoulder comfortingly and discovering the warmth there

feel free to add on!