Dancing With Care and Cure

Staying hopeful when met with recurring pain and struggle is a challenging task. Several factors are necessary to stay hopeful when circumstances are less than ideal. Two of those factors are the importance of being cared while at the same time, receiving the proper cure.

A healthy relationship between care and cure is critical if you want to maintain a hopeful attitude when living with harsh conditions. One author who adds wisdom to this dialogue on the subject is Henri Nouwen.

The relationship between care and cure

“Care is something other than cure. Cure means “change.” A doctor, a lawyer, a minister, a social worker–they all want to use their professional skills to bring about changes in people’s lives. They get paid for whatever kind of cure they can bring about. But cure, desirable as it may be, can easily become violent, manipulative, and even destructive if it does not grow out of care. Care is being with, crying out with, suffering with, feeling with. Care is compassion. It is claiming the truth that the other person is my brother or sister, human, mortal, vulnerable, like I am.

When care is our first concern, cure can be received as a gift. Often we are not able to cure, but we are always able to care. To care is to be human.” (Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey).

Care and cure defined

Care – n

• To show concern
• Demonstrate compassion and give attention to
• Meet the needs of another person in a loving way

Cure  – n

• Restoration of health; recovery from disease
• A method or course of medical treatment used to restore health
• An agent, such as a drug, that restores health; a remedy

Cure without care is to have the best medicine and treatment available but be left feeling isolated, angry and no one willing to listen to your story. Cure without care is having a new bone thanks to the latest technology but nobody to comfort and cheer you on through the pain and push required to see it grow solid and strong enough to be useful.

Care without cure means you have a loving family and supportive friends but no access to the proper health care to mend your broken body. Care without cure is to have optimism but no pathway to kill a raging infection, process emotional pain or mend torn tendons.

Care without cure is like sleeping on a soft pillow top mattress with no supporting box spring. Cure without care is like sleeping on a sheet of plywood that provides support but no comfort.

Hope is fuelled when you receive the painful surgery required to fix what’s broken, removed what’s unwanted or apply the appropriate treatment. But it’s done in partnership with the loving support of health care professionals, family and friends who come along with the treatment to help you navigate the landmines that come after treatment.

I’ve had some tough surgeries, sleepless nights, emotional dips, plenty of losses, but witnessed first hand the dance between care and cure. I have a deep appreciation for the pain necessary to receive the proper cure. I also have a profound gratitude for the people who have shown in countless ways genuine love and compassion when I needed it most.

May the dance continue!

When have you experiences cure without care?
When have you witnessed the delicate dance of care and cure?

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