Life with Chronic Illness

Christmas and Hanukah are over but New Year's Eve and day are still to come!  I worked Christmas Eve and Christmas Day but had Christmas Eve and most of the day with my mom and siblings and Christmas night with my dad.

I got a present I've been wanting for a while from my brother and sister - a Clarisonic!  I can already feel a difference in my skin, it seems so much cleaner.  I got new black boots, a new sweater, some more skin care things,fleece lined leggings (something I was extra excited about given my lack of body fat this winter) and pajama pants.  I am relieved that Christmas is over, every year it is stressful due to my divorced parents and my work schedule.

For NYE, I usually go up to NH with some friends.  I happened to get sick right around Christmas this year so I was hoping I would be well enough to go.  I love sitting by the fire and seeing the snow, and being with such great friends that have supported me through the last few years of bad health.  

Something …

For a long time when I had Cushing's, I was afraid to "go up a size" in anything, instead squeezing into clothes that were probably too small.  I refused to shop at plus size only stores, thinking it meant "giving in" in some way.  I wore stretchy yoga pants and hooded sweatshirts to hide the hump on my back and my bulging belly, but prove that my legs were still normal sized. Towards the end, I found that maternity clothes offered the best fit, and stocked up on jeans and tops that were comfortable to wear AND looked ok.  Sometimes, when shopping in a store instead of online, and was asked about my pregnancy, I lied because it was easier than explaining a brain tumor that cruelly, would take away any natural ability to GET pregnant in the first place.

Now, when I shop, I tend to make a big deal out of it in my head.  It's almost an accomplishment, that I lived through Cushing's and now can go back to buying normal sized clothes.  Recently, I was able …

I had ANOTHER kidney stone on Friday.  It started while I was at work, and I was trying to wait as long as possible to leave, thinking maybe it was just the way I was sitting, so I did a few laps around the department and when things began to get worse, I decided to call my mom and meet her at the ER.  When I got there, they asked about my medical history, which is usually not a great thing to do.  As soon as the nurse heard my list, she brought me right back to a trauma room so they didn't have to wait to get me hooked up to an IV and some pain meds.

The nurse was the same one I had when I had my Last Kidney Stone, it's always nice to see a familiar face when you are in pain!  I got IV antibiotics, pain meds, and went on home.

Saturday, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and noticed my face looked red and blotchy, I didn't think much of it but when I woke up this morning it was purplish and had filled in the rest of my face.  I went to my PCP and had some blood te…