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On Being the Mother of an Adult with Chronic Illness
I have recently returned from a 5 day trip to Chicago with my 27-year old daughter. You might think, “Wow, that’s cool that they were able to vacation together!”, but this was no vacation. My daughter has had a migraine headache more days of the past year and a half than not. It has interfered with her ability to work, maintain friendships, or live any semblance of the normal life that a vital 27-year-old woman should be living. We were in Chicago for a stay at the Diamond Headache Clinic where she was on an IV drop line of powerful medication for four days. She also received physical therapy and biofeedback and learned a lot about how her muscular tension contributes to her headaches. She left the clinic with only a very mild headache and a bucketful of hope. I have not seen her that hopeful in a long time. In addition to the chronic migraines, she has rheumatoid arthritis and epilepsy. This breaks my heart as her mother, and I do everything I can do to be supportive. But, the one thing that I cannot do is make the chronic pain and illnesses go away, and that is incredibly frustrating for me.
Five days after we returned from Chicago, she experienced a grand mal seizure that busted up her beautiful face and gave her a significant concussion. She is still recovering from this event as I write. Today, we visit her office where she must resign because she…
