Let’s Go

‘Let’s Go’ are two words that sometimes strike terror in my heart. They imply so much and yet we use them casually and with little regard to their meaning for someone with RA or Diaebtes. The other day I was asked by a friend to attend an event that involves standing and moving. She ended her invitation with come on ‘Let’s Go’. She meant it literally she was giving me her affirmation that attendance will be fun (it will), it will be interesting (it will) and it will be educational (it will).

I did not hear any of that in her request to ‘Let’s Go’, what I heard was my internal voice;  how long will I stand, how much walking will I do, will I be able to take apple juice, and what happens if I feel awful the day of the event? My friend knew knowing of those calculations and she never will, I will never try to explain them to her because there is no way she could know what happens when someone says ‘Let’s Go’.

Calculation

One thing people who are around those with chronic disease find out, is that the calculation of the answer to ‘Let’s Go’, has a different meaning to us. Let’s say for instance I was a teenage girl without chronic disease, my calculation to ‘Let’s Go’ might go something like this: who will be there, how many people will be there, will the person I like or don’t be there, and what will I wear? A teenage boy would be different, he might think how will I get there, who will be there, do I have other invitations and will it interfere with my studying? (Note here, I have been a teenage boy, we never think of studying when deciding something. I tossed that in for any moms who are reading this note.)

The point is that we all calculate the answers differently based on our reality. A person with a chronic disease thinks of all the same things that others of our gender and age think of, but we also have a secret calculation going on that really only we understand. It would be fascinating to know how many extra thinking steps we factor into every single thing we say.

Thinking

Here is another example. I was happy to be asked to serve our church as an official this coming year. It will require that I perform some activities during the worship service. It is not a lot of work and to be honest I have thought it was time I took something like this up. But when asked I had to calculate the usual stuff, but also the RA and diabetes stuff. How likely am I to have a low blood sugar and my CGM start making noise? Will I feel like going to church on the days required? What happens if there is a flare and going is simply not possible? Taking on an official responsibility is all about the question of ‘Let’s Go’ though I doubt the person who asked has any idea that was my calculation going on.

After a week of thinking about things I agreed to do it. I made some contingency plans, I will turn my CGM off during my tasks, I carry apple juice in case I have a low and I will check my blood sugar before I go up front for my tasks.  I know I need to do some addition preparation work, but I am certain I can manage. I have been asked to do this job before and I have said no and the lady was overjoyed at my choice.

Since I have been considering this new task this week I had to consider the phrase ‘Let’s Go’. I believe I have discovered two important things about the term. First we need to be safe, (low and high blood sugar; access to medicines that let us function, access to nearby health care etc.) are extremely important. We need to consider all of those questions in order to make a good decision about the question ‘Let’s Go’.

The second thing is we also need to be willing to take a leap of faith sometimes. Why do we live life if we only live it so we can be safe? Life is a risky business, sure minimize that risk, do not take unnecessary risks, be careful, but also live. Obviously we cannot define acceptable risks for each other. We cannot define what economists call the risk benefit ratio, for each other. We are all responsible for our own fun. But sometimes just for fun let’s let the calculation be dammed and ‘Let’s Go’.

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