Silent Disease

**MarcusMaximus** · 05-13-2004, 07:36 PM

is there anyone else on this board or these threads that suffer from some debilitating illness? it doesn't have to be life threatening ; just a pain in the ass disease . something that slows you down but you keep going anyway? One that you don't automatically share with every other person in the entire world. not that you are ashamed of it but you suffer in silence; go about your business in your every day manner and just do it!

a number of years ago, i was training with one fellow. he was a great training partner. always had something positive to say, rarely heard him complain about anything in his life and we had a great time. slowly over time, his strength seemed to wane. he never said anything about it. he did say that he just wasn't well. one day he didn't show up for our workout. his mom said that his workout days were over; he apparently had cancer and had had it for a while.

there are those who suffer in silence, tell a few people but don't harp on it forever to everyone and then there are those who want the world to share in their experience. then there are those people in between; who tell people when asked and certainly discuss it but don't wear it as a badge of honor.

I have listed Heart disease, Cancer, neurological ( brain) damage, and other. you can state what it is if you so desire.

hangnails and plantar warts do not warrant discussions.. sorry.

**Stickboy** · 05-13-2004, 08:24 PM

I posted in the other selection.

I suffer from Asthma.

**myCATpowerlifts** · 05-13-2004, 09:19 PM

why isnt diabetes on the list....
that disease has to be the slowest killer

**MarcusMaximus** · 05-14-2004, 04:54 AM

crud, i left diabetes off the list... probably because it is always on my mind that i plum forgot it. sorry about that.. it would go under the "other " choice.

there are 3 people that i know of who train in the gym. some rather insensitive harccore type actually said to one of them" man, you're lucky. i wish i had diabetes so i could get my insulin...".

you just shake your head and walk away.

the Diabetic person NEVER complains. he just goes about his business and does his stuff .

**bandaidwoman** · 05-14-2004, 06:06 AM

Just bad chronic arthritis from multiple injuries:

Broken back and temporary paraplegia for a year requiring multiple spinal fusions when I was 14 (It was in a martial arts tournament) and my back still gives me hell when I run, but doesn't seem to hurt when I bike. Can't do squats because of it so I can only do leg presses at the gym. (I also could not get an epidural during labor....aargh!)

Dislocated shoulder that still pops out during crashes on my bike.

Two shattered patellas sustained when I fell out of a coconut tree and I get patellar dislocations every once in while.

A dislocated clavicle that has never healed because I can't remain in a figure eight splint for 8 weeks and give up mountain biking.

Broken sternum from a gymnastics accident on the vault that still gives me pleurisy when the weather changes.

Calcific myositis (calcified muscle in my left quadraceps) that causes chronic pain. I got this injury during the 3 years I played Ice hockey at Dartmouth, New Hampshire (for the medical school team) and got sacked real hard there during a game and suffered a bad contusion. (Igot sacked by a law student from Harvard, that scum!)

Alll just a pain in the ass, but livable and certainly does not warrant more than an occassional advill for pain.

**Larva** · 05-14-2004, 10:05 AM

got a heart murmor, pulminary stanosis, micro valve prolapse, sorry can't spell, oh i had a hole in y heart when i was born, but it closed on its own.

**Spitfire** · 05-14-2004, 10:31 AM

I have I think 4 buldging disks and two degenerating disks, try not being able to sit in a chair for more than 10 min before the pain. or standing for more than 20 min. my truck ride to work is over a half hour each way. and I sit in a chair for the rest of the day.
oh yeah when I lie on my back the middle of my back hutrs then when I lie on a side the other side hurts.
oh yeah I cant work out my back much anymore, and thats the part that sucks the most.

**Spitfire** · 05-14-2004, 10:34 AM

Oh and I now feel the same pain in my neck, BAW, do you think the same thing is happening to my neck?

**MarcusMaximus** · 05-14-2004, 02:55 PM

i have played wheelchair basketball against a group of people who collectively complain less about their particular problem over the course of their entire lifetime than some people i have had the displeasure of encountering doin just one day. ( complain that is. ) They may just as well write a book about it. How is it that these sorts of people always appear on Oprah anyway? meanwhile 1000's of people in even worse situations/conditions continue to slug it out .

**Spitfire** · 05-14-2004, 03:16 PM

OK not to say that they dont have it bad
BUT WHEN I AM AWAKE I AM IN PAIN
Just In case you were directing that statement to me

**MarcusMaximus** · 05-14-2004, 03:21 PM

wha? people are somewhat concerned that they not be seen as complaining even here in this thread. No spitfire, it was not about you. look up to the top, I started the thread for people such as yourself. You have never complained as far as I know. not to the extent of some people. ( i am not always referring to people from this board either- there is an alternative reality out there sometimes euphemistically called the real world... as if. )

i believe you. i don't believe that i have ever heard you complain about your particular situation other than the fact that you mentioned it just this week. You have decided to just deal with it as best you can.

**Spitfire** · 05-17-2004, 06:21 AM

Thank you for clarifying. And if its any constalation I brought it up solely to get info because my doctor gave me none (BTW thanks again BAW).

**MarcusMaximus** · 05-17-2004, 02:43 PM

no problem at all SF.

the way i see it is this:

there are some people who are indeed in a great deal of personal misfortune- some of these people go to great lengths to let it be known that they are suffering. They go far and away beyond what is considered normal disclosure. AFter a while, their constant reminders of their particular disease appears to be a freaking badge of honor for them. some absurd form of manchausen's syndrome. These people never understand . And absolutely no one will ever tell these people enuff is enuff as they don't want to be seen as rude or not having compassion towards the poor bugger. However, this desire to be seen as a martyr for their suffering is very emotionally draining for the other people involved and is a cruel game.

On leg day back in the day, there was always one fellow that constantly bitched and moaned about his bad back. When we got to 225+, between his sets, he would lay against the wall, moaning and groaning.
The amount of noise he made, you'd think he was giving birth.

These sorts of people always sneak a peak amidst all the moaning and groaning to see if anyone was looking at them and sure enough, he always did.

there are those who truly have some horrendous illness/ tragedy for whom sympathy and compassion should truly be extended. Then there are those whose very actions seem to demand that we pay attention to them, give them extra points for their very loud vocal and endless goings on about their suffering.

**MarcusMaximus** · 05-19-2004, 04:47 AM

on rowing days, i train with buddy. He lives about 6 kms away from the gym and usually he walks there , works out and then walks home. He does this in the dead of winter, 1 meter ( ~ 3 feet for you yanks ) of snow on the ground or in the pouring rain.

he drives a car but he often walks ( as mentioned ) or rides his bike- an old wreck of a 10 speed. he even races in mountain biking events. He has now taken up scuba diving. when he's not doing these things, he is repairing Harleys or getting his out on the road.

when people see him out on the street, they assume that he is drunk or stoned. roy walks and acts like he is off kilter, out of sorts and looks like the wild drummer from The muppet show.

He was in a car accident about 14 years ago. He was 9 months in a coma, then 3 or so years at rehab, 4 years in a wheelchair, then a walker then a cane. he is brain damaged yet in a different sort of way than most, somewhat limited in his physical abilities yet has overcome a lot.

I have never heard him complain about his situation. "It is what is" as he says. He listens to people when he says to him " Boy, i wish that I could park in the handicapped parking zone !" on the rare occasions that he takes his car anywhere. He just smiles and says " Yeah, i wish that it was you and not me too!"

He ain't writing a book about his painful journey although there is more than enough rich stuff to write about. He doesn't try to gain people's sympathy or try to sponge off people.

UP here in Canada, there is a promotion going on looking for Canada's greatest heroes. many of the people that they advertise are not much of a hero in my eyes. guys like buddy are true canadian heroes- people who perservere in spite of hardship, go about their business without constantly talking about it.

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