A Note From Dwain

Hi, I am Debbie's husband, Dwain.

Some of you have asked how I, as the spouse of a person with Fibro copes with it all. I think its because I am very patient with regard to my wife. I am also the type of person who keeps comments to myself, MOST of the time. I am human too so I will vent but I usually control it. The only piece of advice my father-in-law gave me the day we were married was "make no assumptions." That has been a valuable piece of advice. Another thing about me is that I am not judgemental about what other people do, say, like, or, whatever. Again this is most of the time. I think that all these things together help me deal with my wife's situation.

With regard to considering what Deb is doing to deal with her pain and discomfort from Fibro, I ask myself if I were uncomfortable, what would I do about it. The answer is "what ever makes me feel better." I don't always agree with some of the things she tries, but if she says they may help her feel better, who am I to say they don't. Deb takes a lot of pills, all of them prescribed by her doctor. I once swallowed her morning doses when the cups that she puts our medications in were reversed and I was in a hurry to get to work. Those pills knocked me out for a full day. If she needs meds that are that powerful to get through her day, I guess I can back off a little.

Deb is a very strong willed person, you might call it stubborn. She has her way of doing things and isn't always flexible about changes. Our forty years of marriage has taught us both how to deal with that, and it sums up in that we are both patient and tolerant of our personal traits.