You Know You’re a Spoonie When- Fun List
I’m not Jeff Foxworthy but some things about being health impaired are so ridiculous, we might as well try to laugh. Here are a few I thought of along with some additions from my Spoonie friends. Please share yours in the comments section for Invisible Illness Awareness Week!
You Know You’re a Spoonie When:
-You have more cute socks and pajamas than sexy lingerie’ and heels.
-You are on a first name basis with all of the local pharmacists.
-Your family uses YOU as their excuse for getting out of things they don’t want to do with other people.
-If a stranger comes to your front door, you just hide until they go away.
-You have more salts in your bathroom than the DMV road crews in the winter.
-Your spouse/partner fills your meds for you as a romantic gesture of his/her affection (goodbye flowers!).
-You have become mysteriously artsy/crafty over time since diagnosis (was increased creativity one of your symptoms?).
-Your doctors and favorite nurses are on your Christmas card list.
-You know where all the elevators are wherever you go, yet somehow they always end up super far away from your actual destination (what is that about anyway??).
-Your pets seem to have a better understanding about how you are feeling than anyone else.
-Your loved ones have a favorite joke about your disability that makes you laugh. When they say it in public, people think your loved ones are horrible.
-You have more hair in your bed, in the drain, and in your brush today than is actually on your head!
-You start to talk to your Spoonie friends online more than you talk to your friends and family.
-You’ve learned so much about medicine that your doctors talk to you like a colleague instead of a patient.
-You’ve developed heightened super-sonic senses. You’re sure you are a super hero and keep looking for a lit up spoon signal outside. (To the sick cave!)
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From my Spoonie friends: You know you’re a Spoonie When…
-All the people who work at the drug store and pharmacy know you and your family by name. -Molly Williams
-Whenever you are in public people stare. You are starting to get a complex that you have grown extremely good looking. inspired by –Living Life Beyond Disability
-You joke about going to see your “drug dealer” a.k.a. your pharmacist. -April Hughs
-When I rate my pain 1-10 and 7 means I’m having a GOOD day. -Keely Blackburn
-You know all the different medications and their side effects. -Julie Pierpoint
-You have to bite your tongue when a friend keeps complaining about his/her allergies. inspired by –Sick and Sick of it
-You talk to your doctors, nurses, and pharmacists more than you talk to your own family! -Allisin Wonderland Hatfield
-Your deaf and blind dog thinks your crutches are trying to attack him! -Tegan Bert
-You go to hand your pharmacist the prescription card and she says “Nah, I remember you have one of those.” -Christine Brannon-Miles
-You make fun of the television commercials about medications that “help” symptoms like yours. inspired by –Finding Out Fibro
-When your mum says you will never get a flu because all of your meds will probably knock it out of your system first. -Marika Dolinski
-You use ferocious animals and monsters to represent your illness. –inspired by Elle and the Auto Gnome
-You are so tired of explaining what’s wrong with you that when anyone asks, you distract them by responding: “where did you get your hair cut?” or “do you garden?” -Melanie Barker
What are yours?
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If you enjoyed the above poster or want to know what a “Spoonie” is, read the article it was based on: “10,000 Spoons, If Only! Why the Chronically Ill Love Spoons”
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This article was featured on InvisibleIllnessWeek.com 2014. Sharing again here in honor of Invisible Illness Week 2015.
Posted on October 2, 2015, in Uncategorized and tagged 10000 Spoons poster, Chronic Illness, chronic illness humor, Chronic illness list, Chronic pain, Invisible Illness Awareness, Invisible Illness Awareness Week 2015, life with disability, Spoonie, spoonie humor, You know you're a spoonie when list. Bookmark the permalink. 8 Comments.
I really like this post because I see my wife in many of these things (and myself to a lesser degree).
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I’m so glad you can relate! Thank you, Vic.
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You know it when you have to set reminders for everything, down to washing sheets, showering, calling in meds once a month, that one time every two years i actually dust, etc. Also, if you want to remember anything, you better write it down the second it crosses your mind, and then remember where you wrote it (worse still). Your only way to tell the pain is getting worse since an hour ago is by how easy it is to feel frustrated/ overwhelmed/ flipping off inanimate objects. You become both heavily in tune with your body, and also skilled at dissociating from it during flares. There is no tmi anymore, at least to the chronic illness community. The best thing (and the most heartrending), is that the community we have is bonded by a shared consciousness and experience, but also by love. I’ve never been loved so completely when I am so completely unlovable. It’s bigger than you and I, my dear, but to me, meeting you alone embodies all the uncensored and non-conditional love and comfort of the entire spoonie community. I’m sending you big fuzzy soft hugs through the interwebs. Love you, Mary, always. Thank you so much for including me on your awesome list. ❤ xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
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“I’ve never been loved so completely when I’m so completely unlovable” is a beautiful quote. However, I cannot imagine a moment that you have been unlovable. You are a remarkable woman, and people are drawn to you because they / I see your amazing qualities that shine through despite the horrors you are wading through.
Feeling those fuzzy hugs coming through strong my special friend. I hope you can feel my love and squeezes wrapping around you also.
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Oh god I feel you with the hair thing. I have blocked the drain twice this week with my hair loss. I suffer from alopecia as well as CFS/ME…my darling bf unblocks the drain for me. Romantic gestures are my bf bringing me food upstairs so I don’t have to move, or getting me out of the car or up the stairs.
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Thank you for sharing. Spoonie hugs
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Love and relate to all of these 🙂 Gave me a chuckle that I needed today 🙂
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That makes me so happy.
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