—Submitted to us anonymously by a blogger named Zen Girl on The Steep Mountain.

Silence

So this post is one of the reasons I decided to write anonymously for now.

One of the biggest challenges I faced when I was diagnosed with FSH 20 years ago, was the reaction from my family. Interestingly, my friends asked questions, did research and tried to understand what I was going through and how they could help. No one, not one person, knew what FSH was. The closest they got was, "Muscular Dystrophy, like Jerry's Telethon?" (Well, it was his telethon until he was turfed.)

For the most part, people were pretty confused since I looked just fine. So the diagnosis was just a bunch of big words that made no sense. But my friends did what they could and always showed sensitivity even if their approaches varied.

When I told my family, they didn't even stop what they were doing. My parents just looked at me and said, "What's that?" When I explained what the condition was, and that it was typically genetic, there was silence.

My father is the strong and silent type anyway. A very soft-hearted person who would do anything for anyone. I think he heard me explain it. I think he understood it better than my mother in some ways and just decided to shut down. To this day, the most he has ever said to me about it was over breakfast last year.

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