How far would you go to to convince someone of something? Early on in my illness, I would stage falls to the floor so my wife would pay attention to how sick I was becoming. I’d complained of unrelenting fatigue and weakness and a whole host of other severe symptoms, but I was not fully believed.
My trick worked for a little while, until one day I laid the kitchen trash barrel on the floor perpendicular to my feet, where I then lay, and upon hearing the thud and scream and then noticing me facedown, she quickly deduced that I could not have possibly knocked the barrel over by falling in the direction in which I had. Staging falls to the floor? How ridiculous.
But that’s what it took to convince my loved one that I was suffering from ME/CFS, the very real, devastating physical illness we all know well, unfortunately.
My trick worked for a little while, until one day I laid the kitchen trash barrel on the floor perpendicular to my feet, where I then lay, and upon hearing the thud and scream and then noticing me facedown, she quickly deduced that I could not have possibly knocked the barrel over by falling in the direction in which I had. Staging falls to the floor? How ridiculous.
But that’s what it took to convince my loved one that I was suffering from ME/CFS, the very real, devastating physical illness we all know well, unfortunately.
