Today is National Grateful Patient Day, and we want to be honest about how complicated that word is when you’re a Black woman with MS, lupus, or NMOSD.

Because gratitude toward your healthcare providers is easy when you’ve got good ones. The neurologist who listened to you the first time instead of the fifth. The rheumatologist who didn’t chalk it up to stress. The nurse who looked you in the eye and said I believe you when three other people in that building hadn’t. If you’ve got that provider, you know exactly who they are, and you probably don’t tell them enough what it meant to finally land in the right office. But a lot of you went through years of being dismissed, misdiagnosed, and sent home with answers that didn’t match what your body was telling you before you found that person. Some of you are still looking. And it’s hard to feel grateful when the system made you fight for care that should have been standard. So today we’re holding both of those things at the same time. You can be grateful for the provider who finally got it right and still be angry about every one who didn’t. Those aren’t contradictions, that’s just what being a patient in this body looks like. If you’ve got a provider who changed everything for you, name them in the comments. Tag them if you can. Let’s make sure the good ones know we see them too. #WeAreILLMatic #GratefulPatientDay #BlackWomenWithMS #LupusAwareness #ChronicIllnessCommunity