What did you do?

This is an interview that I did with an Aplastic Anemia patient that was diagnosed ten years ago. He has been in remission for 9 years and recently had another seizure. He is now struggling with another part of his illness.

1.What were your feelings when you first got sick?
Devastated, I had never been sick with anything worse then the common flu and now I was getting told I had little chance to live. I had no clue what to do and just wanted to give up.

2.What were your coping mechanisms?

Telling jokes, making others laugh and just trying to act as if nothing had happened and this whole hospital stay was a hotel stay I did what I wanted to do and nothing else.


3.Why did you decide to cope the way that you did?
No, other choice. its like the song, "live like you were dying" I had nothing to lose so I'm going to make the best out of the time I had.


4.How were the nurses and doctors as well as the friends and family around you an an effect on how you coped?
Some of the doctors didn't understand a common rule, people want to know the truth. If there was one thing that helped me more than anything, it was being told exactly what was going on because I could face it head on. Parents, I think can never help with coping. You can see the pain and worry in their eyes and it hurts a lot more to see that someone else is in pain for you than you are for yourself.


5.How did tyhe poeple around you cope?
People, tried to skirt the issue and not talk about it. And when it comes to me doing anything at all they consider me to be this china doll ready to break at the slightest touch.