Isolation and Illness

It happened so fast. One day, Dr. K. told me that she would not allow me to return to my job. I felt lost. Work was my life. All of my support and friends worked. I would awaken at my regular 5:30 and was dress and ready to go by 7:00. Go where? It took many months adjusting to sleeping in a bit. It took many years adjusting to my new life.

What I mostly felt was isolation. Everyone else had a life. I had nothing but an illness. Yes, I was busy with all the lawsuits, lawyers, rehab, etc., but it was not enough. I missed people. I missed the children. I began to chat with moms and their children in the grocery store or Macy’s or anywhere. People. Contact. Conversation. Normal.

I remember driving around for hours before my rehab class because I had just wanted to get out of the house. I felt so isolated. So alone. Trying to deal with a fatal illness.

I believe what eventually saved me was pulmonary rehab. After the initial eight weeks of education, the maintenance program was two days a week. Two days a week that I would show up early and sit in the lobby. Two days a week where I began to chat with Sherman and Dick and all the other people also feeling isolated because of their illnesses. It became somewhere to go to feel normal.

Now I go to another rehab three additional days of the week where I have developed many friendships. Even wearing a backpack of oxygen, I feel at home. Normal. 

I believe rehab saved my life in more way than the pure exercise. It allowed for the much needed social and emotional support. 

I no longer feel so isolated.

If you are suffering with an illness, please sign up for a rehab program. It will change your life.