Sharing My Story
Living a Healthy Life With Chronic Conditions (Originally written for the leadership magazine Enrich ) Imagine an enthusiastic pastor who is a runner, a rock climber, a person who enjoys skiing, a practicer of martial arts, and loves getting out in his canoe to work on sermons ... and then having it all slip away to the point that dragging yourself out of bed before noon is a real accomplishment. For years I have struggled with chronic illness but it came on fast and furious in a matter of months. First a definition: “Hyper Eosinophilic Syndrome is an idiopathic condition (which means they don't know what, when, where or why) associated with marked peripheral eosinophilia and gastroenteritis. ...HES involves other organs such as the heart, lungs, brain, and kidneys and generally has a progressive fatal course.” (Fauci, Harley, Roberts, cited in Wallace and Apstein, 1997.) I have been on at least 20 medications for symptoms like chronic pain and fatigue. To help you put you