Laura DeCarlo
Cell 2 Soul. 2006 Spring; 2(1):a20
All I want is one good day...
Just one day where nothing ails me.
Just one day that when I smile it's not through clenched teeth and I feel it tickle me to my toes.
Just one day where I don't have to wonder if my family secretly thinks I have rounded some new bend of symptoms they cannot see.
Just one day that I can throw caution to the wind; be released from the constant refrain of, "What's in it? from my soup to my soap".
Just one day where I won't have to endlessly plan for my trip based on rest stops, safe restaurants and smooth roads.
Just one day when I won't have to worry that a passionate embrace today will result in pain tomorrow.
Just one day when I will get to sleep, really sleep through the night, instead of marking the hours by the clock on my regular trips to the bath.
Just one day when I won't have to feel that everything, simply everything must be learned by trial and error; oh so much trial and so much error.
Just one day, just one single day — is that too much to ask? — when I will feel "a part of" again, and not apart from so much of what I took for granted before. If I had only known; if I had not squandered those days, all those days....why is it so hard to remember what it tasted like and felt like inside and out to just be, without what ails me?
Is that too much to ask? Just one day? Just one single day where nothing ails me?
Laura DeCarlo suffers from Interstitial Cystitis (IC), a chronic inflammatory condition of the urinary bladder. She has created a website where IC sufferers can creatively discuss problems of daily living associated with IC: http://www.art4ic.com.
Readers wanting to learn more about the disease are encouraged to visit this open-access advertisement-free site to browse the poetry and participate in the online forum by posting comments and concerns.
About Interstitial Cystitis (IC)
IC is a chronic and frequently debilitating inflammatory condition of the urinary bladder. Currently, there is no cure. Although IC occurs predominantly in women, it may strike people of any age, race or sex. Common symptoms include urinary frequency (up to 60 times a day), a sense of urgency-coupled with painful urination, pressure, spasms-and abdominal or genital pain.
Most IC suffers also experience "mystery pains" and related ailments. Those afflicted with IC are commonly diagnosed with fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome and a host of other diseases. Sensitivities to food, chemicals and topical skin products are hallmarks of the disease, although some patients are not impacted by these.
IC is difficult to diagnose: even after many visits to more than one specialist, the average delay to diagnosis is 2.5 years. Much remains unknown about the cause of IC and effective treatments. While some patients respond well to certain medications, treatments or surgery, these same remedies can cause terrible 'flares' in others.
You can learn more about IC at:
http://www.art4ic.com
http://www.ichelp.com
http://www.ic-network.com