10/ 18/ 2016
Heart break is never easy. Be it from a break up, a disagreement with a friend or another kind of loss, it often feels like the ache will never go away. There have been many changes this year. Someone broke up with me and I found out I had cancer. I still feel uneasy. It has been hard to be patient, to let the healing take the time it will take.
But here are some steps I took to help me through the healing process:
10/ 07/ 2016
One afternoon last week, I suddenly felt very panicked. The trigger? A voicemail from a blocked number on my phone. I was in the middle of a meeting and couldn’t let it go. Who could it be? So I racked my brain for the worst possible scenario.
I’d imagined it was the fire department informing me that I’d left my curling iron plugged in all day. There had been a fire. My apartment was destroyed along with my sweet cat Harlow (which is a really horrible thought!). It was cryptic, certainly, but it’s exactly where my mind went.
After looking up the make and model of my curling iron, I learned it automatically shut off. Logically, if there had been a fire, I would have heard before 4:30p. There truly was no need to panic.
But still, I couldn’t let it go.
09/ 11/ 2016
I’ve never considered myself an outdoorsy sort of person. Instead, I preferred to look at nature from afar on my computer screen or in a book. I’d gone on a handful of hikes before—one in Costa Rica, a couple in Atlanta. These hikes were too hot, and the sunscreen had sweat off my face within 10 minutes. There were too many bugs and it rained the entire descent in Costa Rica. I wasn’t even a little bit comfortable.
When I decided to vacation in Seattle, a lot of people suggested adding hiking to the to do list. I thought, “why not?” Maybe hiking on the West Coast would be different.
08/ 03/ 2016
Since having my thyroid removed, my endocrinologist and I have been working to figure out what’s causing me to feel fatigued. I’ve had my blood taken so many times I’ve lost count. We’ve run additional tests that monitor fatigue levels, metabolism and blood flow. It’s taken a lot of time and patience.
It’s not uncommon for folks without thyroids to have low levels of calcium and Vitamin D. I started taking supplements to keep those levels in range. Then my doctor switched me to a different brand of thyroid medication, hoping it would correct the fatigue. But it didn’t. We then learned that my B12 levels were low, so I started taking another supplement. I did start to feel better then.
