Phillip and I met with the transplant nephrologist (kidney specialist) on Monday afternoon. We came armed with a huge list of questions. I haven’t been to the transplant center as a patient since my evaluation back in the summer of 2011. This meeting was to re-establish care and get informed…
At 8pm last night, the tears came. Of course they would come. Phillip was there. He sat close. Stayed quiet. He let me cry. I wiped my tears with my wrinkled dinner napkin and stared off into space. I choked out how weird it is to feel relatively healthy and…
Phillip and I were back for my 3 month checkup yesterday. I completed blood work on Tuesday and felt calm about where I was at. I’ve had some fatigue, but nothing dramatic. Life was moving along as life does so I assumed my kidney was following suit. During my January…
As people, we are a searching breed. We search through business accomplishments, spirituality, relationships, food, material possessions and any variety of ways you can imagine. We yearn for connection, security and purpose. We want to feel hopeful, inspired and passionate. Sometimes we are wildly successful. We bask in gratitude and…
In the most recent newsletter I talked about wanting to trade bodies with someone…just for one day. This way they could tell you just how freaked you should be about the symptoms you’re experiencing. When you cope with chronic illness, especially one that is progressive, symptoms randomly visit from time-to-time.…
While my body presents lots of challenges, it also has me in complete awe. The moment something doesn’t work correctly, you become aware of just how amazing its function was…all without having to consciously think about anything. Day-in-and-day-out our bodies work tirelessly to do millions of huge and tiny things…
The term “let go” has been tossed around in self-help circles a lot. Usually as in, “just let it go.” This vague term is used as a prescription for decreasing stress. Because it is fuzzy, it is can also be a frustrating statement. Prompting the response, “if I could just…
Something I have been contemplating for a while finally became crystal clear last night. I could not wait to share. The placebo effect is fascinating. In clinical trials, participants are typically divided into two groups. One group is given active treatment, and another group is given treatment that looks like…
For many years I felt shame about having an illness. Not shame in the way you would think: that I was embarrassed or ashamed of having to go to the doctors and take medication. For me, it was deeper than that. I grew up around many of the ideas in…
I would never say that I’m grateful to have chronic health issues, but there are blessings that can come out of challenging health, if you know where to look. Here are my top 10: Acceptance. Acceptance is one of the most important skills we can cultivate. It is inevitable that…