Sunday, April 22, 2012

Remission and Cure

A friend has recently found out that he is in remission. For those with Crohn's, this is a long, painful, and arduous journey. To hear that prognosis is a great day. It is truly a bitter-sweet day for those of us that have experienced it. Of all the things my doctor could have said to me that day, there was only one that I would have wanted to hear more.

"You're cured."

The finality in that statement is still quite palatable today and I find myself still craving the taste. Being cured would mean that the dance with my dark passenger was over and that we had gone different ways never to see each other again.

No more symptoms.

No more planning.

No more worrying.

I could focus all of my mental and physical energies on so many other things and take a very laissez-faire attitude with the foods I ate while not needing to cap my stress at any point nor making up sleep deficits on a weekly basis in an attempt to stave off imminent flairs. I could live a "normal" life because I had been cured.

Unfortunately, we must be satisfied with remission since there is no cure. Remission means that we have no medically detectable symptoms. Individually, it means that we have created a homeostasis in our systems with the foods we consume, the drinks we imbibe, and the energies that we allow our bodies to absorb. Unlike the laissez-faire attitude a cured individual can acquire, those of us in remission must remain ever vigilant.

Indeed, it is a bitter-sweet victory.

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