This is Day 38 of the Positive 100, a countdown to Rare Disease Day 2014 and an exercise in being positive despite it all.

Most of us are holding out for some sort of magic. A super pill or other cure. Some sort of miracle that will end our suffering. For me, and for many I know, that magic cure isn’t coming any time soon.

One of my favorite proverbs says “A good laugh and a long sleep are the two best cures for anything.” I’d say that is about 80% right.

When you suffer from something that is incurable, it is easy to brush off a proverb like that as trite and oversimplified. But it is very true and it is the basis for this project. I believe wholeheartedly in the power of a smile. The intoxicating high of a good laugh.

I am waiting for a cure. The real, medical miracle that ends my pain. That makes the scars less likely to multiply. A cure is what I hope for. Because I want more than just treating symptoms and postponing inevitable disease progression.

Sure, there are all sorts of fancy pants drugs and crazy out there and even crazier treatments (like turning me into a cyborg, oxygen chambers and marijuana), but they only go so far. They are most definitely not cures.

While I wait and hope, I am going to treat myself the best way I know how. By taking care of all of me and making sure that every treatment is accompanied by a healthy dose of laughter. 

Laughter might not be the cure on its own, but it sure makes all the other treatments bearable and it is certainly a cure for a broken spirit.

Share the positivity on Twitter, Instagram and Google+ with the hashtag #100pI dsitivedays. Also, you can sign up to be emailed a recap each week of the challenge.