We have an opportunity for you to take part in a Acromegaly and Human Growth Hormone Deficiency (GHD) Study for patients and caregivers. Our project number for this study is IQV_6382.
Project Details:
Survey is 20-minutes long
$35 Reward
Things to Note:
We recommend using the web browsers Google Chrome or FireFox
Study is open to patients and caregivers
Please do not share study links
One participant per household only
Want to share this opportunity? Let us know and we can provide a new link
Please use a laptop/computer ONLY. No smartphones or tablets – Preliminary questions are mobile friendly!
Save this email to reference if you have any questions about the study!
Thanks as always for your participation! Please be aware that by entering this information you are not guaranteed that you will be selected to participate. As always, we do not share any of your contact information without your permission.
Myth: “You should be all better by now! You found out what was wrong, you got the surgery, it’s been quite some time, and you are STILL not better?! You SHOULD have gotten better by now!” Chronic illness follows the same pattern as normal illness. You get diagnosed, treated, and then go back to a state of recovery, eventually leading you back to a state of “normal health”.
Fact: Chronic illness is called chronic illness for a reason, because it is chronic! Wayne Dyer addresses this myth: We usually expect to follow a pattern that is characteristic of most illness. “The person has an illness and falls from the path of normal health. Then, comes a period of diagnosis and treatment followed by a period of convalescence (the general recovery of health and strength after illness). Finally, the person returns to good health again” (p. 251).
The person is supported, typically, by family, friends, neighbors, and their church community during the illness, treatment, and recovery, assuming that at some point the person will return to normal health and their assistance will no longer be needed (p. 251).
However, in the case of the chronically ill, a different cycle occurs. In the chronically ill, the person loses his normal health. He goes through a period of treatment and sometimes recovers. “But for a number of reasons, depending on the illness, the person does not return to a condition of normal health but continues in a fluctuating pattern of chronic ill health. The person may have periods when he feels better or worse, but at no time does he ever return to complete good health.” (p. 252).
According to Dyer (1990), “Unfortunately, family members, friends, and neighbors do not know how to respond to this unfamiliar pattern, and they usually shift their attention away from the chronically ill person as others with the more normal cycle of sickness occupy their attention” (p 252). At this point, the person with the chronic illness feels a lack of support, understanding, and help. This can lead to increased pain, depression, and anxiety.
It is very difficult for family members, such as spouses, to deal with the person with chronic illness. “Chronic illness can disrupt and pide a family, or it can provide the family with an opportunity to grow in understanding, patience, sacrifice, and love for one another” (Dyer, 1990, p. 256).
For the chronically ill person and his family, the friends, neighbors, and church can either be a source of support and help or elicit feelings of neglect, rejection, and misunderstanding. Most people help at the beginning of the illness, but then become confused when the person doesn’t get better, so they withdraw their attention (p. 256).
Here are some ideas for helping the chronically ill person and family:
• Discuss in some detail with the person how his illness is affecting him and his family and find out what his needs are
• Make short visits to not overtire or over stimulate the patient
• Send a card or make a short phone call to the sick person
• Look for ways to help with young children
• Send a small gift
• Avoid saying things to make the person feel pressured such as “I hope you can come back to church every Sunday now”
• Don’t ask, “What can I do to help?” People don’t like to have to ask for support. Express sensitivity and go ahead and do something (p. 258).
I first saw a similar image to this one with the saying Life. Be in it at a recreation center when my son was little. At the time, it was “Duh, of course, I’m in it”.
The original image was a couple of males, a couple of females, and a dog walking/running. No folks in wheelchairs, no older folks, and certainly no zebras.
It would be nice to have everyone out there walking or running but that’s not real life, at least in the Cushie world. It’s been a long time since I’ve really been In My Life – maybe it’s time to get back.
A dear friend who has not one, but two forms of cancer was traveling throughout Europe for the first time after her husband’s death wrote:
Some final words before I turn in for the night. If there is a spark of desire within you to do something which is not contrary to God’s Holy Law, find a way to make it happen. All things are possible and blessings abound for those who love Him. Life is such an adventure. Don’t be a spectator – live every single moment for Him and with Him.
Somedays, it’s hard even getting up in the morning but I’m trying. Pre-COVID I took Water Aerobics for People with Arthritis and I actually went to class three times a week. Now, I took the stuff I learned there and do it 3 times a week as part of “water walking” by myself or with my DH. I got a “part-time” job several years ago and I’m teaching piano online. We had plans for a cruise to Norway which COVID made us reschedule for Alaska, which has to be rescheduled…again.
This is the one and only life I’ll ever have and I want to make the most of it!
