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The Picture of Health

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Perhaps it's time to redefine what it means to be healthy. In an era of great medical advances when doctors have the ability to diagnose once unidentifiable ailments and when genetic testing is becoming more acceptable, maybe the definition of what is and isn't healthy needs to be amended. Are you healthy if you can jog a mile? Are you considered well if your body has been put to some dire test from which you have emerged victorious? And how do you classify those of us who face numerous tests, but still jog two miles a day, work full time and lead otherwise "normal" lives?

I visit the doctor's office monthly, sometimes weekly. For me, annual doctor's exams are a quaint notion akin to 5 o'clock Sunday dinners. My health is monitored by a team of specialists always striving to improve upon the last set of results. Bone-density tests are scheduled between social events. Professional obligations yield to doctor's appointments, CT scans and X-rays. On any given day I can recite my most recent cholesterol, creatinine and potassium levels.

I understand many will not see me as healthy, that they'll continue to punctuate every inquiry with condolences. I'm not even sure how best to redefine the concept of what is and isn't healthy, but I hope any such definition will underscore that the presence of illness isn't nearly as important as one's ability to overcome it.

Lute lives in Atlanta.

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Posted By: ladybird1358 @ 04/21/2009 11:23:39 AM

Hi Kim,
Thank you for this wonderful article. I lost my younger sibling to liver disease in 2006, and subsequently underwent a liver transplant in October 2007. I identify with everything that you are going through. What keeps me going is my faith and my family. I am stronger and better for having traveled this difficult road. Everyday is better than the next. I no longer take life for granted.
-CKS
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Posted By: steph2424 @ 02/15/2009 11:03:16 PM

I want to commend Kim on her strength and attitude I am healthy. I had my first kidney transplant for 17 years ago and can relate to how the doctor's see you that you are their patient and being healthy is not in their vocabulary. The countless test you go through and all those medical history sheets needed to be filled out and when it comes to the line name all surgeries you have had, but wait there is never enough room to write in all of them. I am now awaiting for my next transplant and started hemodialysis again. Soon it comes back to why this is happening to you and at an age where you were thinking how boys were now cute. I was 16 when I had my first transplant ,the donor was my sister. I had spent a year prior to my transplant on hemodialysis. A sophmore in highschool and 3 times a week for 3 hours at a time talk about a cramp into my social life. Kim you are a inspiration to myself how you keep on going you are healthy just wanting to live a normal life. I can relate in so many ways and know exactly what it is like to have the pain of a biopsy. You can email me at spfau24@yahoo.com. I loved your article
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Posted By: MtnGinder @ 01/18/2009 10:22:46 PM

Kim, This captures, in a calm way, the resiliency of a person through harsh health processes. You were hit with life-disrupting events; you coped not crumbled, you became better not bitter, you emerged stronger not weaker! You're journey is VIRTUALLY IDENTICAL to mine! Physical limitations frees the spirit, soul and heart. You explored and defined and redefined your environment, the players in it and boundless freedoms most won't ever be free due to non-challenge!! My path of reconstruction spiritually, emotionally, physically and intellectually means more to read about another with emotional awareness and inconvenient daily routines that simply become routine.
Would welcome you to visit Kim: http://www.carepages.com/carepages/AlAlquist -Al