Girls with chronic illnesses either detest princess stories where everything ends up okay in the end because they’re unrealistic, or they love them.
My rheumatoid arthritis is the thorny rose patch and dragon keeping my prince charming away. For some, this could be taken quite literally – they don’t date because they don’t feel adequate or are just so ill that they don’t need the extra stress that a relationship can cause.
For others, we are caught in a continuous battle to stay ‘okay.’ We are waiting for a cure that we know, we swear is on the way. But it keeps being delayed, and we stay stuck in our towers – alone.
Alone doesn’t quite fit though, does it? In reality, we are a part of the normal world and we function (sometimes) in it. Isolated probably is a better fit.
I’m around other people, sometimes, and I do have the ability to interact with others. But still, there’s a difference – even if the people around know about RA and how bad it can get. They haven’t felt the pain or the other problems that can arise from a chronic condition. There’s no knowledge of the isolation, the exhaustion. The worst part is, no matter how much you explain it, they won’t ever know.
And so we sit in our towers, staring out the window and waiting for our rescue – one that, for the vast majority of us, we will never live to see. And there’s not much else we can do but wait and hope, and try to avoid the hopeless feelings that are inevitable.