My Experience
-
Will I Get The Covid Vaccine
I have gotten this question a lot lately. The short answer is, I don’t know. My history of allergies is a tick in the no column. However, I’m also in a high risk category which puts a tick in the yes column. It’s difficult to say what the right choice would be. With anything covid related, no one really knows the long term effects. After a conversation with my doctor, it comes down to a risk/benefit analysis. Previous to a conversation with my Dysautonomia International group, I said no way. I didn’t want to risk another round of anaphylaxis. More emotional trauma and the risk of putting myself back medically…
-
Why I’m Getting A Job
I’ve been adamant throughout the pandemic that I didn’t want to get a job. With my health, it seemed foolish to put myself in a direct line of fire. The reality is, I can survive without a job. I have the luxury of family support and student loans, but that only gets me so far. Dreaming of graduate school has put life into perspective for me. I will have to get a job. I will have to navigate working life and school. I’d rather work out the kinks of that when I have a soft place to land rather than when I’m away from home. I have a lot of…
-
The Future
My plans for the future have been completely uprooted by covid. At the start of 2020, I had every intention of applying to four or five programs in Canada for graduate school. During the fall, I made the extremely difficult decision to take a step back. My life has been turbulent in the past few years. It no longer made sense to challenge myself in that way. I still wanted to go to graduate school. Instead of applying to multiple programs, I decided to apply to only one. This choice came with a lot of heartache and grief. Now, the world is starting to look different once again. I am…
-
Dealing With Bad News
My medical life has been relatively stable lately. It’s been an incredible change that I’m very grateful for. That being said, I have suffered a setback. Several weeks ago, I started having pretty intense shin pain. It would come and go varying on activity level. It masked itself as knee pain or other various complications of weak hips. Now, the pain has become daily. I brought it up to my surgeon, per the advice of my physical therapist and they’ve told me that I need to rest. That may seem like an easy answer to most people. If you’ve followed my journey for a while, you know that exercise is…
-
Falling Out Of My Routine
I’ve been doing my best to be less rigid about everything. When I went into quarantine, I knew that it would pose challenges for me. I’m naturally a social person and although I don’t go out often, the little interaction I had was important to me. Of course, I’m doing this in an effort to see my family for the holidays. It seemed like a small sacrifice in order for us to all be together. As I anticipated, quarantine has taken its toll. I have completely fallen out of my routine. I used to pride myself on my morning and night routines. Although I still follow them, I haven’t been…
-
Merry Christmas!
I hope that you’re having an amazing day. Whether you are celebrating Christmas or the joy of a new day, I hope it is going very well. I am happy to be able to spend this day with my family after having quarantined for two weeks. It doesn’t look anything like it has in years past but that’s okay. I’m so grateful for the individuals I have around me. I feel incredibly blessed to have a warm place to stay and many hugs. Stay well! I hope your day is fabulous. I hope that it is filled with joy, positivity, and laughter. I hope you find peace, love, and happiness.
-
Celebrating Life!
On December 22, 2019 I came very close to losing my life. It was by far the closest call I’ve had. I was hospitalized nine times previous and on and off steroids, that is quite the claim. I feel lucky to be alive. A large part of why I’m here today is because of my service dog, Crush. I couldn’t be more grateful to have him in my life. After being discharged from the ICU on December 23, 2019, I’m happy to report I haven’t been hospitalized since! I can’t explain to you what an incredible accomplishment that feels like. This year has included six surgeries. Including one to get…
-
My Goals for 2021
On Wednesday, I looked at my goals for 2020. I’m happy to say that I met almost all of them with flying colors. I don’t necessarily believe in New Years Resolutions. However, I think it’s important to always have goals and strive to meet them. Once again, I will write my goals out for outward accountability. I will push the boundaries of what I feel comfortable doing in order to become the best version of myself. Goals for my personal life:My number one goal for 2021 is to graduate college. I’m on track to receive my BA in the Summer. I’d also like to finish my application to graduate school.…
-
Reviewing My Goals For 2020
I was looking back at all my articles recently. After pursuing for a while, I stumbled upon my goals for 2020. I wrote out and posted those goals because I wanted outward accountability. With the pandemic and more surgeries than I expected, I forgot what I wanted out of 2020. When I wrote that article, I hadn’t even heard of covid-19. So let us look back together and talk about what I wanted vs. what I did. The goals I set for my personal life were as follows:-Start dating againI’m happy to say I followed through with this. It hasn’t been the journey I expected but it’s definitely been very…
-
Why I Don't Set My Goals According To My Chronic Illness
I made an article last week talking about why I don’t make goals based on my OCD. Today, I want to talk about why I don’t make goals based on my chronic illness. Now, these two things differ quite a bit. That’s why I’m writing two separate articles. Chronic illness poses a lot more physical challenges and isn’t about what I believe I can do. It’s more about finding a way to work within the circumstances I’m in. I have several different chronic illnesses. This changes the way I interact with the world on a daily basis. I have a service dog and often need to accommodate my disability in…
