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On this week’s show, Lori Hartwell and Stephen Furst visit with comedian Howie
Mandel (pictured right), host of NBC’s new hit game show “Deal or No Deal.” Laughing in the midst
of tough situations may not come naturally for everyone, but a good sense of
humor can definitely help lighten the mood. Oftentimes, humor is just the
medicine we need.
“Knock, knock.”
“Who’s there?”
“Fillus.”
“Fillus who?”
“Fill us a glass full, please.”
Ok... Ok.... Everyone knows that when you have to explain a joke, it might lose
something in the translation. But if you’re a dialysis patient, you’ll probably
find this knock-knock joke funny. Why, you may ask? Because when it comes to
humor and chronic illness, sometimes you just have to stretch the point:
Dialysis patients usually get the glass only half-full because of fluid
restrictions!
Living with a chronic illness isn’t easy... physically, mentally, or
emotionally. But humor does have a way of lightening the mood. “Everything that
happens in your life has a positive side to it,” says Howie. “Some people never
see it, but you have to find where the glass is half-full, and find the sense of
humor in it. Now that’s great medication!”
Laughter is a wonderful emotion that everyone can tap into. It’s been associated
with feelings of well-being, happiness, and success. Says Howie: “Happiness is
definitely a choice; it doesn’t just happen. For me, to be successful is to be
happy.”
Dealing with illness day after day can wear anybody down, but if you look hard
enough you can usually find something funny about the situation that you’re in.
Once, while on the road performing, Howie came down with pneumonia and a high
fever. So what did he do? Instead of canceling that night’s show, he decided to
open the show while lying in a bed onstage and joking about being sick. Now
that’s using humor in the midst of illness!
Lori and Stephen can definitely relate. Stephen jokes about when the doctor
asked him what type of dialysis he wanted. “Vanilla,” he answered. And Lori
wrote an entire book on making the best of the hand that you’re dealt. Aptly
titled Chronically Happy: Joyful Living in Spite of Chronic Illness, Lori’s book
is the first to be written by a kidney patient to ever reach national
distribution. The bottom line, says Lori is that “Adversity introduces you to
yourself,” often giving you the first true glimpse of what you’re capable of
doing.
So, when you open the door to your medicine cabinet, remember to look beyond the
bottles. “When something goes wrong, my family and I go to humor first for
medication,” says Howie.
Good ways to lighten your mood are as close as your TV set or mouse. “Deal or No
Deal” is the hottest game show on TV. Its new season begins this fall on
NBC.
Check your local listings. And remember... you
can listen to KidneyTalk! anytime. Stay happy!
Week of June 13th