"It must be dull to be well..."

I remember now that one of the questions on the 30 things list I made about my illness was "what gadget can't you live without?" I answered my battery powered lantern, which makes it possible for me to have any kind of night life. I think I should mention in this post that my cell phone also has a remarkable effect of keeping me sane by connecting me with the outside world.

Last night I was blessed to be on the phone quite late with my wonderfully amazing friend Heidi. At the end of the conversation, we had just as much to talk about as we had when we'd started over two hours before. I definitely can't stay on the phone that long with most people, and I've come to realise that it is because those other people are well, whereas Heidi and I share the bond of a common illness. Which gives us a lot to talk about!! 

It must be dull to be well. Your conversation never comes close to approaching retro-viruses (which aren't viruses from the 1950s, mind you), the chemical load your body is bearing, discussion of the latest medical research, politics relating to the FDA and CDC, or where to buy an organic hair conditioner product. You would never think of reading medicine and cosmetic ingredient labels over the phone to one another. I shouldn't think either of you should be discussing custom earplugs or colored eyeglasses. Besides conversation topics, your selection of reading material is not nearly as broad as ours. We have fun books like The Perrin Technique, or Osler's Web to catch our eyes and hold our attention as we read about one outbreak of disease after another, or the body's fluid drainage system. You lack a vested interest in human anatomy and physiology such as we have. There is no reason you should be up past midnight discussing cough syrup, whooping cough, and the tiny hairs inside your lungs. But we have all the reason in the world. We're not medical students, so we're not graded for it, but we care to know anyway, simply because one never knows what knowledge one will need about the human body. 

It must be dull to be well. We ill people have so much more to talk about, think about, read about, and learn about.