Please stay healthy!

Please stay healthy! A sentence that I am currently shouting to myself. Several times a day!

I have to function. At home, at work. I attend training courses, work through to-dos, plan the next instructions, write applications, one appointment after the next. The calendar is full.

"Sandra, how does the immune system work?" I explain that to the trainee in my sleep. We discussed a multimorbid patient based on her diagnosis. It was immediately clear that one thing often leads to another and sometimes people are just unlucky. Why are some people healthy and others get every little thing? The immune system is complex. The body is a genius. And sometimes a bitch...

Mine isn't there. I'm about to have a flare-up. I can feel it in every fingertip, every toetip. But there's still time. I'm not having any neurological problems yet, I'm not stumbling. Maybe I'll be lucky and I can avoid it, pull the emergency brake? Reduce stress?

My fingers are tingling; the soles of my feet are burning. Nerve pain all the way down to my knees. I would love to take high doses of cortisone right now. But that is not the solution. The first discolorations are appearing, I try not to look. Exactly a year ago in August it was so bad that I sought interdisciplinary help. There is a lymphoma somewhere. And apparently it likes to knock on my door in the summer! Hello! But I can't use you at the moment. The to-do lists are long, and not just in my private life. I have a lot going on this summer at work too. And the current situation gives me hope that I can avoid a hospital stay until at least the autumn. And not just because of the staff shortage in hospitals. Inexperienced doctors are my worst nightmare. And that is exactly what I would meet.

So reduce stress….

But this summer I'm fighting for justice. For better working conditions. And sometimes that brings with it headwinds and "unofficial" threats... but it's worth every tingle for me.