Notes on Self-Care with serious chronic illness
For me, self-care is often like being a doomsday prepper. Instead of barrels of wheat and buckets of dry milk powder, I have boxes and bins full of sterile water, and solu-cortef powder vials for injection. Instead of MRE's, I have emergency injections and bottles and bottles of steroids, carefully stored and counted. Instead of 2 years worth of toilet paper and canned bacon and eggs, I have *at least* two years' worth of hydrocortisone tablets, prednisone tablets, fludrocortisone tablets, and a stockpile of other meds that make my life more comfortable (like Celebrex, an NSAID for my arthritis) but which I only take when absolutely necessary. Instead of a pile of guns and ammunition in my basement, I have piles of syringes and sterile needles for mixing and preparing medication for my pump. Instead of a pantry full of canned vegetables, I have a pantry shelf full of infusion pump supplies, like medication reservoirs and infusion sets. As long as they are factory sealed I don't care if they are expired! I am a doomsday prepper, and the doomsday I am preparing to deal with is the loss of health insurance (this has happened before, I was without insurance for over a year, and thank GOD I had my stockpile). This is both real physical self-care, but also emotional self-care, I can't even tell you how incredibly stressed out I get when I think about not being able to get the meds I need.
Here is a picture of a small part of my doomsday horde - this is at least 2 years' worth of medication for my Addison's and about a year worth of infusion supplies.
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