My Experience
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I'm Moving
I’m happy to announce that I am officially moving on July 1! I genuinely could not be more excited. After being bound to living at home for the past few years, I’m very ready to once again be on my own. I may not be moving to Canada like I had originally hoped but I trust that this will bring a lot of peace to my psyche. I am so grateful that I have the support system that I do. Living at home for the past two years was never my plan. It also wasn’t something that I was super excited about. That being said, it was really my only…
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Surgery on the Horizon
For a minute, I really thought I was done with surgery. Everyone kept telling me to stop saying that my right hip was my last. Low and behold, they were right because I am back on the path to surgery. My heart is heavy facing that reality. It’s something that I really wasn’t mentally prepared for. My knees have an abundance of swelling within the joint. It’s clear from the cortisol injections that there is a problem within the joint itself. It is causing the problem and pain. I went to my three month follow up for my hip excited but weary. I was well aware of the possibility that…
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Service Dog Guilt
As you may or may not know, I’ve been travelling a fair amount lately. This has significantly opened up my world and broadened my horizons. I have always had an intense love for traveling but traveling with a service dog is very different. For the most part, I can accommodate my trip to my needs and Crush’s needs but other times I can’t. Navigating a balance between his needs and my own can be difficult and sometimes it makes me feel guilty. Since I started traveling, I have left Crush kenneled more than ever before. There are a variety of reasons why this is the case. First and foremost, the…
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Staying In Minnesota
It’s hard for me to write this article. It is not the news I wanted to share with you. I am staying in Minnesota. While I feel there are a lot of benefits to this reality, the cons are present and weighing on me. I had hoped that I would share with you that I was headed to Canada for Graduate School. Due to the fact that I only applied to two programs and the limited space available, I am not. I received this news while I was at work. To say that it was a devastating blow is an understatement. For the past few months I have been sitting…
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Health Updates
Since it’s been a while, I thought I’d give you some updates on my health. Great news to start, I have still remained out of the hospital. Bad news, I have had a few run-ins with the ER. I also had syncope for the first time in quite a while. Both were difficult blows. That being said, I’m working really hard to maintain my health. I’m working closely with my doctors to find a regiment that works. I’m utilizing both medication and home remedies that keep me up right and functioning. My allergies have been kicking up. As normal allergy season comes around, I start to struggle a little more.…
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I Graduated
It has been a while since my last update. Allow me to fill you in on the highlights of the last few weeks. First off, I graduated! I wanted to wait to post something about this. Despite celebrating my graduation in May, I didn’t finish my degree until last week. As of last Friday, I am completely finished and a college graduate with a BA in Theatre. This feels incredibly exciting. Not just because I graduated college but because I did it while battling with my health. The last four years have taught me a ton. Not only about theatre and education but more than anything, it has taught me…
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My Senior Project
I have officially finished my senior project. It has been an incredible challenge and gift to pursue this endeavor. It has helped me process my experiences. It also challenged me to think critically. I started this project with the question, “What does it mean to have a disability?” This question was as broad as I could get. I didn’t know what I wanted the end product to be. I didn’t know how much of my experience I wanted to share. Now, it’s done. I feel incredibly lucky to share this film with you. I hope you enjoy. I hope that your day is going well. I hope that your day…
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Moving Forward
The past few weeks I have been missing in action. There are a culmination of reasons why this is the case. The primary reasoning being that I’ve been overwhelmed. It’s not easy to admit that I’ve been doing too much but for a while that was very much the case. There were a few weeks that I felt completely spent, every single day I went to bed exhausted. I would wake up exhausted and eventually that caught up to me. It caught up to me in the form of an allergy attack. While I’d like to believe that stress was the main factor in this attack, it’s unlikely. If it…
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What to Expect With Knee Injections
I recently got cortisone injections in my knees. I had no idea what to expect. Googling let me down a lot of paths that honestly scared me more than anything. That’s par for the course when using the internet to give you any guidance on healthcare. I thought since I’ve now been through it and had similar injections in my hip that I’d let you know what to be prepared for. That way you don’t have to follow the same Google deep dive I did. Pain I would say that these shots were similar to my hip injections. Both types of injections are semi painful. By no means is it…
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I Got Knee Injections
It’s been six weeks since my latest hip surgery. The recovery has been a roller coaster of ups and downs. Most of that is to be expected, although some of it is harder than I would’ve imagined. My knees have become a significant problem. It’s something I anticipated but hoped would go away. I have had knee pain and issues since high school. It’s been a difficult endeavor to recover my hips without causing more problems for my knees. There are a lot of emotions surrounding this topic. It’s not easy to consistently have new problems that come up frequently. I’m extremely grateful for my care team. They are absolutely…
