lofwyr
11-02-20, 15:10
Having HA and fighting the dragon has been a battle I have waged off and on since I was about 17. I am 49 now. There have been times when my anxiety was well placed, and the crisis was real, and not the dragon. But most often it was the dragon, and early on in that time, I wasted a lot of time learning about how to fight it.
Now my mom has a growth on her elbow. I am not sure how long it has been there, but she is no spring chicken. She will be 80 in 9 days. She had an ultra sound on it in December, and never heard anything, so she assumed it was fine. But lately it has grown a bit--it probably just under golf ball size. Her GP is doubling down on imaging, sending her for an MRI, which is good.
I will say, I am nervous, but not overly so. It is soft and apparently feels like it is filled with fluid, and mobile. It is a bit tender, but the doctor wants to be sure. If nothing else, it will help them decide how to treat it. But you know the HA mind. It goes right to the worse case scenarios.
Mine did, a little bit, but I was able to reign it in. But it is unusual seeing it in someone who never really displayed it before. It is like looking in a mirror at my younger self, and I am left with a position of how to talk to someone about their HA, and reign them in. I know symptomatically, her growth has "a lot going for it" being benign, but the reasonably rapid growth is alarming, and I get why she is scared. It isn't illegitimate fear, it is bonified, but anxiety is anxiety regardless.
So my question is, how do you talk to someone about HA when you yourself fight HA? I feel like I am uniquely qualified, and simultaneously the worst person for the job, but would love to ease her anxiety a bit. I told her to stay off google, which I think she will. Other than that, I want to ease her mind, but not sure I know how.
Now my mom has a growth on her elbow. I am not sure how long it has been there, but she is no spring chicken. She will be 80 in 9 days. She had an ultra sound on it in December, and never heard anything, so she assumed it was fine. But lately it has grown a bit--it probably just under golf ball size. Her GP is doubling down on imaging, sending her for an MRI, which is good.
I will say, I am nervous, but not overly so. It is soft and apparently feels like it is filled with fluid, and mobile. It is a bit tender, but the doctor wants to be sure. If nothing else, it will help them decide how to treat it. But you know the HA mind. It goes right to the worse case scenarios.
Mine did, a little bit, but I was able to reign it in. But it is unusual seeing it in someone who never really displayed it before. It is like looking in a mirror at my younger self, and I am left with a position of how to talk to someone about their HA, and reign them in. I know symptomatically, her growth has "a lot going for it" being benign, but the reasonably rapid growth is alarming, and I get why she is scared. It isn't illegitimate fear, it is bonified, but anxiety is anxiety regardless.
So my question is, how do you talk to someone about HA when you yourself fight HA? I feel like I am uniquely qualified, and simultaneously the worst person for the job, but would love to ease her anxiety a bit. I told her to stay off google, which I think she will. Other than that, I want to ease her mind, but not sure I know how.