A husband reflects on his wife’s battle with autoimmune diseases.
By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle
You can’t see the pain.
You can’t understand why the pretty woman in the burgundy SUV parks in the handicapped space.
You can’t figure out why the devoted Christian — who taught children’s Sunday school classes and made homemade lasagna for fellowship meals — stopped showing up for worship.
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You’re her husband, and you know she suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases. You know her symptoms started about the time she turned 40 — after two decades of marriage and when her three children were in their early and late teens.
You know your wife, now 53, doesn’t feel like getting out of bed some days, much less making dinner or watching a TV show together.
You know she’s an amazing writer and communicator (much better than you) but had to stop working and go on long-term disability.
You know she takes eight pills a day. You know she has a continuous release pain patch on her hip that she changes every 72 hours. You know the various medications, injections, infusions and diets that she’s tried over the years haven’t helped long term. (You know, sadly, that someone will read this column and immediately send a private message offering to sell her essential oils.)
You know she tries not to complain about the pain. But you know, too, that the pain is constant. She feels it in every joint. Her knees. Her wrists. Her elbows.
This story appears in the online edition of The Christian Chronicle.
Photo via Shutterstock
Faith. Family. Fastballs. 