When Your Chronic Illness Leaves You Housebound
Life can hold many wonderful adventures.
Travel, work, days out, drives in the countryside, eating at wonderful restaurants and cafes, visits to family and friends.
The list is endless. The opportunities to broaden your horizons are plentiful.
What if you can’t do any of those things? What if you are housebound? What if your body is incapable of being out for longer than an hour a day, in fact only an hour every few days, on a good week, all being well?
What does life look like then?
What if the four walls of your home are your boundaries? What if looking out the window at a beautiful sunny day is the extent of your outlook?
What does life look like then?
For many people with chronic disease, life’s limitations are severe. Finding light and life, within the compounds of their home, is perhaps one of the keys to survival. Perhaps finding such joy in the home is the key to a happy existence, in what would otherwise feel like a prison sentence.
I am often asked how I cope not being able to get out.
Comments such as, “I wish you were able to do more,” or, ” I would love to see you get to a cafe or spend a day out,” are said with true love and concern from friends who want to fix the what can’t be fixed.
I want to reassure my friends and those who are living with severe chronic illness, that a fulfilled and happy life can be found in the confines of your home.
“Home sweet home.” I love my home. It offers me security. It offers me comfort both physically and spiritually.
It is the place where I rest. The place where I laugh. The place where I cry. The place where I pray. The place where I sing. The place where I muse with my friends on my phone.
It’s the place where I am enveloped by the love and care of my beautiful husband. It’s the place where I write. The place where I think.
It’s the place where I eat. It’s the place where I sit outside in the garden and admire the beautiful flowers and where butterflies and birds visit me.
“Home sweet home” is my world. It is a beautiful place and I love it.
I am content within it. I nurture it. I care for it. I potter in it. I express myself in it through interior decor that reflect the things I love.
It is my artwork and it brings me joy to be within it and surrounded by it.
The walls do not suffocate me. They allow me to live life as full as possible in a safe place.
It is priceless. It is life giving. It is my refuge. It is my “home sweet home!”
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Thinkstock Image By: Max5799
Sam retired early, from a successful Executive Management Career in financial services, due to chronic disease. She has a rare disabling bone disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis and a permanent colostomy. “When health gets complex, I’ve come to realise it is really important to find others who are also battling multiple issues, to share the never-ending complexities that arise”. As Sam’s disabilities progressed she started a blog called, My Medical Musings. She also set up an online support forum for anyone wanting the hand of friendship as they journey an often lonely and difficult path living with the effects of chronic disease. “Both my blog, My Medical Musings and online support group, Medical Musings with Friends, are a place to laugh, cry, share and vent together”. Sam is a member of the Chronic Illness Bloggers Network and she is passionate about promoting and supporting other chronic illness bloggers. You can follow more of Sam’s story at her blog "My Medical Musings" https://mymedmusings.com/ She is also author of the book: "My Medical Musings, A Story of Love, Laughter, Faith and Hope; Living with a Rare Disease. More details about the book can be found on Sam's blog.
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