Mom and I
go to see
Dr. Brimmond
to check in about
Frederick and
get some
suggestions for
my exhaustion.
He comments
on how much
better
I am.
I scoff.
"Emphysema is a
degenerative disease.
You don't
get better.
You can only
get worse."
He asks me
how much
my symptoms
have been
bothering me
and though I
refuse to
give up on
the whole
no getting better
thing,
I come to realize that
I haven't been
bothered
as much as
usual.
Dr. Brimmond says
this is because
I have discovered
the best
treatment
for chronic illness.
Joy.
He says
the gratitude
and the hope
and focusing on
anything but
my illness
and not
staying stuck
in my past
is what makes
life—
and the
Emphysema—
seem better.
I accuse him
of getting
Kjrsten to
trick me into
that stuff.
He says that
Kjrsten
is a good
social worker
and already knew
that on her own.
Then he asks
if it wasn't
the best trick
that's ever
been played on me.
I guess
He's right.
YOU ARE READING
Remember; You Have the Universe
Teen FictionCover by kyromaniak Everyone wants to be different. I just want to be like everybody else. ---- Seventeen-year-old chronically ill Emma has traded dreams of flying into space for, "Support Therapy," aka, "The Dying Kids Group," and Student Council...
