Living with Limitations

This week Venus Williams, in the middle of a tennis tournament, all of a sudden, quit. She is a world champion and known to any person who follows sports. The reason she quit was very interesting to me. Williams has been diagnosed with Sjogren’s Syndrome and because of extreme fatigue and joint pain, she couldn’t keep pushing anymore.

As I read the articles about this woman who is still in her thirties, I could relate to most of what she talked about with her health. Having been diagnosed with Sjogren’s Syndrome myself many years ago, I know too well about the extreme fatigue, the joint pain, dry mouth, dry eyes, etc. SS is hard to understand if you haven’t suffered from it yourself. I love something Williams states in one of the articles: “SS is hard to diagnose because those who have it often appear the picture of health even when they do not have the energy to sit for a portrait.”

Ever since I’ve known that this is what I have, I have not wanted to be characterized by this illness. I usually never talk about it except to family members and no one would ever know that I have a chronic illness except my immediate family. They know only too well because there are days when I can hardly get out of bed – those days are not many if I live with margin in my life, but they still happen. They know because we have humidifiers around the house to help me sleep with a very dry mouth. My children know because when we travel, I suffer terribly with swollen feet and hands, whether it be by car or by plane.

Somehow, reading about Venus Williams’ struggle with this disease makes me feel like I don’t have to push so hard to keep a full schedule. Not that it is bad to push sometimes, but often I condemn myself for not entertaining enough, not visiting enough, etc, etc! I am fortunate to live with Joel who is a peace loving man. Stress is the thing that takes me down faster than anything else and there is very little stress in our home – almost none. I have much to be grateful for!