Invincible We Are: a student blog on living with chronic illness
We have always had a key interest in writing. Both of us have spent countless hours in our creative space working away at a poem or preparing an eye-catching commentary for classes. It was not until we began the Arts and Humanities course in Year 2 of medical school that we realized the similarities in our interest in writing.
By Dilpreet Bajwa and Rubia AhmedWe have always had writing as a hobby, and we thought it was time to put it out there but in a way that would be beneficial for others too. No doubt we still continue to write a short story here and there or experiment with new poetic styles, but InvincibleWeAre has given us a shared goal and a much-needed creative outlet.
So what is this InvincibleWeAre, you ask? This is a blog where we have weaved together our love for writing, our medical knowledge, and the lived experiences of individuals in the community to put forth a person-centered-approach to medical conditions.
We know and understand that living with chronic illness is not an easy and straight forward path. Experiencing this journey from a clinical and personal standpoint has made us realize that without understanding of the patient experience, learning about the illness is essentially incomplete.
With clinical experiences offering limited time with patients and a field which is largely focused on understanding the pertinent details to treat and manage the patient, getting a patient’s inside story in inevitably hard. We found we were surrounded by people with similar situations.
This blog has been our outlet to reach out to individuals in the community who were unable to tell their holistic story due to these restraints. We craft each blog with reflection, authentic experiences and an originally drawn piece of art from yours truly. With this blog we are learning every day, learning about our peers, our community, our future patients, and most importantly about our own biases and perceptions.
From the film Patch Adams, Robbin Williams delivered numerous powerful lines, the one that stuck was “You treat a disease, you win, you lose. You treat a person, I guarantee you, you'll win, no matter what the outcome.” This quote is a very powerful reminder that we practice medicine for the people, the humanity, and not just the scientific knowledge of the human anatomy and physiology.
Treating a person with dignity and empathy is the foundation of the art of medicine. Perhaps with this small step of ours to make the voices of individuals with chronic illnesses be heard, we may be making a step forward to increasing empathy in our readers for individuals they may pass one day.
This blog is for everyone. We aim to focus on easy to understand, relatable, and engaging language so that anyone from healthcare practitioners, medical students, to caregivers and individuals with similar diagnoses can benefit.
Our blog is composed of numerous anonymously shared personal stories as well as personal reflective pieces with the goal of at least reaching one of you with each post and changing the way we see our similarities and differences. By understanding differences in human experience we can undoubtedly increase our empathy and acceptance of those around us, and that is our goal.
We both hope that you may come across our blog posts and possibly relate with one as well one day. And even more, we hope that one of these posts meets you right when you need it most and gives you a reason to reflect or gives you a supportive hand and resources for yourself or a loved one.
Follow our blog directly or on Instagram: @invincibleweare
Sincerely,
Dilpreet and Rubia
