Posted by Jackie M. on March 11, 1999 at 16:15:36:
In Reply to: Dentist with clusters, first time posted by Clint Wilkinson on March 10, 1999 at 18:36:36:
Dear Clint,
I am very sorry to hear that you've become the demon cluster's latest victim, though you've found a great source of support here, on this website.
The question of coping is a very intimate process. Here, we share and offer support which helps in coping if only just to know that we are not alone. But I have found coping to be an evolving process throughout these twenty-five years. There are still times when I seem to have lost the ability to "cope." Coping to me is often just a means of survival; of getting through another day. It's actually the hoping that gets me through. Hoping that one day these monsters will disappear and I'll get a chance to see how the other half lives. Of course, hope gets awfully thin when you're thrashing around on the floor while in the midst of another killer cluster, but somehow it always returns when the cluster goes into hiding. Hope is bolstered when you are surrounded by people who love and understand you. I would sugggest that if you are ever confronted by the "I get headaches too, doe doe bird" who is only too eager to offer you condescending advice and make you feel like a whimp who can't endure a little pain, that you get out of it's path immediately. They can blow hope away with their fluttering wings of implication quite efficiently. As to the matter of holding down a job, I'm afraid I can't help you there. I've lost several jobs to the clusters. My daughter is doing her clinical rounds to become a CDA, and most of the practices she works at are run by more than one Dentist. Do you think it would be feasible for you to take on a partner who'd be able to cover for you on these impossible days of clusters? I hope you are able to find a way keep your practice running smoothly. I know that for myself, losing the means of a livlihood is as devastating as the pain of cluster.
All my best to you,
Jackie M.