Society Spinners
On the one hand:
I'm sick of being sick......
I'm depressed; I keep going down....
I'm drained through perspiration........
I wish I understood this here.......
On the other hand:
Many, er... 'society' people, do cope
very well with their lives in a spin.
They race around all over the place
and they treat ill-health with chagrin.
They know they have to get to grips
with attacks they don't want or expect.
They pop a pill, (though some get cut up!)
and wait for ease from each ill-effect.
They read through SPIN for the latest news
of research to keep spins at bay.
They support all efforts as much as they can,
holding events to raise money for pay.
And where would we be without doctors?
They give sympathy or encourage us on;
"just keep taking the tablets please,
I'll give you some more when they're gone".
And aren't we so lucky to have a 'club'
which helps us to cope with our fears.
Let's pray for the day for which the Soc. seeks
"Old members - all cured - three cheers"!
Written in recognition of the work carried out by a charity called 'The Ménières Society'.
Notes by the author
I have suffered from Ménières disease since 1980. It is a little recognised set of symptoms with several causes, usually from within the ear or ears, that causes dizziness, sickness, tinnitus and sometimes eventual deafness. I have been lucky in that for the last ten years these symptoms have stopped, leaving me with tinnitus alone [but I am now deaf in one ear]. The tinnitus started ten years before the Ménières attacks.
I became a member of the Ménières Society, was helped by them, and remain impressed with the help they provide. They issue fact sheets, and a magazine called SPIN which contains other members accounts of the illness, and research news from home and abroad among other things. It is a lifeline for the sufferers of this horrible 'disease'. Sufferers do need help as they learn to cope with the effects of the illness.
I wrote this poem for the Society and publish it here with their permission as copyright holders.