Don't You Forget About Us

Alright, those we love with PsA listen up. We made an unwritten commitment to you to support you through thick and thin, flares and remission and everything in between. We have been there through every scary moment. We’ll take any 3 a.m. freak-out call. We’ll go to doctor’s appointments. We’ll take on any aggression you need to focus on something. We’re in it with you and we have no intention of stepping away. We hope you see how fiercely you’re loved, and we hope that the things we do give you comfort, peace and are helpful.

With that said, now it’s time to turn the tables. We need something from you.

Don’t forget us in the good times.

Reaching out when you are feeling good

It’s so natural to reach out in times of fear or struggle to your support system for advice, an escape or whatever else you need. This can mean countless calls, texts, lunches and more. Then suddenly everything is ok and...nothing.

What I mean by this isn’t that we expect a constant stream of calls from you, but quite often we don’t even get to hear the end of the story. Once you start to feel better or you get an all good from a doctor, you forget to let us know. We get it. You’re feeling better, life starts to get back to normal which means you get busy, but we’ve been on this roller coaster with you for all the twists and turns. Your victory is our victory too.

A quick note or check-in keeps us in the loop

This isn’t about keeping score or needing accolades or thank yous. It’s literally about, sending a text message that says, feeling better today or doc said all normal. It doesn’t need to be anything more than that.

Of course, we have to take some ownership too and we can always ask if things are better, and we should. Sometimes though when it’s been a really rough time there comes a point where we don’t want to pry.

Also, remember we are your support system because we love you and spending time with you. Not because we love your disease or feel sorry for you. When things are good, don’t forget we want to hang out then too. We’d love to go to lunch and just talk about ridiculous things with you sometime.

Your support system cares to know how you are doing

We also want to know when there are changes in your disease or medication. Is there a new therapy you’re going to try? Is there a new trigger we should be aware of to try to avoid? You’re not bothering us with trivial or insignificant information. This is all really important stuff to us, almost as important as it is to you.

Those of us who are really involved will try to read up and learn things as much as we can, but you will always have the most up to date info, especially as it relates to you. Share it with us. Send us an article you want us to read. Tell us a story. You aren’t boring us. You aren’t wasting our time. We want to know and absorb all of this, if we didn’t, we wouldn’t be here. We promise to do our part to check-in and see what we can do to help, but we hope you’ll help us too. Misery loves company but a celebration isn’t really a celebration alone. Let us ride the wave with you.