A Phase You’re Going Through

It seemed that children were a lot healthier when I was growing up.  Okay, we all got pounded by the big childhood diseases: chicken pox, measles (three day and German).  I had mumps. My sister had scarlet fever.  We all had tonsillitis and tonsillectomies.  We had inoculations for the really bad stuff.  For example, small pox, diphtheria and polio. 

I always put chicken pox and measles on my healthcare portal history.  Usually, the medical professional will ask when I had them.  I respond that I don’t know when.  “How do you know you have had them?”  “I grew up in a government housing project. We all had them before age three.”

Other than the standards, we never got sick.  At least that is what our parents told us.  If you felt bad, it was a phase you were going through.  “Mom, I really feel crummy.”  “How so?”  “I have a headache. My arms, legs, and stomach hurt.  I feel hot.”  “It’s just a phase you’re going through.”  “Aren’t these symptoms of the Bubonic Plague.”  “Yes.  But if you don’t break out in pustules, it’s probably just a phase.”  Eventually, all of the symptoms faded and we were never classified as sick.  

“Mom!  Wow, I am really tired.  All I want to do is sleep.  I think I have a low grade fever.  There has been an outbreak of mononucleosis at school.”  “Don’t worry dear.  It’s probably just growing pains.  It’s a phase you are going through and you will feel better soon.”  Sure enough, in three or four weeks everything is fine.  Again, I was never considered sick.

Many years later, we had our daughter tested for allergies.  The physician said that she was very allergic to two or three different allergens common to the State of Florida.  He asked if I had allergies as a child.  I said no.  We were poor.  He took that a little harder than I thought he should.  None of the kids in our neighborhood had allergies because we couldn’t afford them.  Treatments were expensive, so every summer we would go through another phase. Sometime, around peak ragweed season, we would cough and hack.  Perhaps we spiked a weird rash.  When the fall came and the symptoms dissipated, the phase was over.

It is impossible to tell if kids were healthier when I was growing up.  There may have been fewer illnesses but there were a lot more phases.  

Medicine in the 2020’s is so much more advanced than the 1960’s.  I have at least five close friends that would not be alive if not for the wonders of modern medicine.  Treatments for many dread diseases are nearly miraculous. 

In some ways, however, I can still hear the words of my mother. 

A while back, I started to feel a little puny.  Sore muscles, stiff joints, tired and worn out.  I live in the 21^st Century so I took my symptoms to the Mayo Clinic.  After running at least 100 blood tests, they concluded that I definitely have an unusual auto immune disease.  I was born with the propensity for this disease to surface.  It cannot be transmitted to anyone else.  Very importantly, it really is not life threatening or a precursor to anything more serious than severe aches and pains.  The symptoms can be lessened with steroids.  In almost all cases, the disease stays active for eighteen to sixty months.  Eventually, it completely disappears and does not reoccur.

So I am listening to this world renowned Rheumatologist.  He is armed with 100s of tests. He understands this peril in incredible detail.  I visit him every three months and adjust my medications exactly as he prescribes.  Underneath it all however, when I boil down his feedback and prognosis, I am back in 1963.  His advice sounds just like Mom’s.  It is sprinkled with complex medical terms.  Yet, when you sort it all out, he is simply saying: “Don’t worry, this is just a phase you’re going through.”  

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