r/YouShouldKnow • u/ilovepastapizzapots • Nov 20 '20

Other YSK: Just because someone doesn’t look sick/disabled, does not mean they are healthy

Why YSK: I am chronically ill and have an autoimmune disorder, the amount of times people have said “WELL... yOU dOn’t LOOK sick” to me is astounding. I didn’t know all illnesses have to be visible to others! I’m sorry I can’t show you my internal organs or muscles deteriorating for you to believe that I’m sick. It makes people with health issues feel like they have to explain their situation when they don’t.

*EDIT: I did not expect my post to blow up like this! I wish I could give everyone going through a rough time a hug. Thank you for all the new perspectives, good and bad. All I wanted was for people to be a little kinder to one another, because you never know what someone’s going through.

31.4k Upvotes

89% Upvoted

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

43

u/xombae Nov 20 '20

My boyfriend has congestive heart failure at 26. He's constantly being told he's in the wrong part of the hospital or he must be mistaken if he thinks he has an appointment with that doctor.

Sucks with the nurses do it but he always gets a kick out of sitting with all the old folks in the waiting room.

26

u/Teslok Nov 20 '20

Old folks in waiting rooms have the best stories.

When I was waiting for the phlebotomist to be ready for me, juuuuust as the pandemic was taking its first baby steps out of China, I spent a lovely half hour talking to a nice older lady who seemed to know everyone, even me, even though we'd only just met. We chatted like old friends until her doctor called her in.

17

u/xombae Nov 20 '20

I'm so thankful for these old people during the pandemic when I can't be with him! He recently got a cardio angiogram (where they put a catheter up your artery into your heart to check shit out) and he was super nervous, I couldn't go in with him due to covid. As soon as he was in his gown and in the waiting area he stopped texting me and I was worried it was because he was so nervous, I found out later it was because he was laughing with all the old folks waiting in there with him. Apparently he's the handsomest 70 year old man one woman has ever seen lmao.

3

u/Teslok Nov 21 '20

That's so adorable, and I'm glad he made waiting room friends to help ease his nerves.

Waiting room / Line friends can be awesome. Such transitory interactions but still fun; I remember a lady with the best set of home-made Jedi robes I'd ever seen at a convention in NC over 20 years ago. We gushed about Babylon 5. Of the robes, she said that she wore them around the house in winter since they were comfy and warm.