A Very Lucky Girl

I have mixed feelings about my visit to the endocrinologist on Tuesday afternoon. It was a concoction of good news and meh news. I learned I have lost weight, which I attribute to the fact that I physically cannot eat Pringles without Nat, although the mile walk to and from campus every morning may have something to do with it as well. According to the bloodwork, my thyroid levels are still doing well and though hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism could arise at any time, now is not that time and I am thankful. I confessed some not-so-wise health decisions I made in Europe, earning a glare and a "we learned our lesson speech" from my doctor (who I LOVE by the way-she is the most thorough lady on the planet).  I have been really forgetful about taking my 2.5 mg hydrocortisone at night, pretty much since January, but I haven't been feeling any unfortunate effects from it. However, it does leave me with only 17.5 mg of hydrocortisone in my system daily, which is rather on t...

Do you remember where you were on January 17, 2011? I was in an ICU bed at an Oklahoma hospital, recently diagnosed with Addison's Disease , missing a gall-bladder, and weighing in at 98 pounds. I was told that I wasn't the healthy 18-year old I thought I was. I wasn't the strong athlete I used to be. I wasn't the vivacious college student, full of promise and plans. I was a broken hospital patient, depressed and seemingly hopeless. Coming to terms with a chronic illness is weird. I don't like to think that who I am is fueled by how I feel or how many pills I'm currently popping. I hate the memory loss of most of my senior year and TCU semester. Friends will reminisce, "hey remember when?!" No. No, I don't. And I really hate the unknown. The questions. The why me? How does this disease even exist? Why does it target who it does? No one knows. There aren't answers for those questions. For someone who likes to know everything NOW, no an...

I encountered at least two angels during my trip to Los Angeles over the weekend. I was so excited to embark on this adventure as I had never been further west in America than Las Vegas. Before Saturday night, I had never dipped a toe in the Pacific Ocean. I made so many mental plans for this getaway. My friend (and first angel), Olivia, attends the University of Southern California and we talked of hiking to the Hollywood sign, going to Venice Beach, and venturing to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, among other touristy activities. Unfortunately, Addison's Disease had other, less fun plans, for my first 24 hours in Los Angeles.  I started feeling uncomfortable during my original flight to Phoenix on Friday morning. I typically do not have any sort of motion sickness on airplanes so I was surprised when a few waves of nausea overcame me on the plane ride. I attributed them to an inadequate breakfast and fueled up on my layover with a chicken Caesar salad, hoping to combat my ill fee...

Confession: Sometimes I feel truly blessed to have Addison's Disease. For one, it's fairly manageable, and for two (the best reason), I have met some amazing people through this connection! I use "met" loosely because I have yet to physically meet any of these women, but they all sound so wonderful on social media! And I hope one day I can hug each one and compare drug prescriptions and medical alert jewelry while swapping ER stories. Alycia: I found Alycia on Instagram when I scrolled through the hashtag #addisonsdisease last year. After wading through endless pictures of dogs (fun fact: dogs get Addison's Disease and I swear the world knows more about the canine disorder than the human one. Nope, not bitter), I stumbled upon a picture of a race to raise awareness for Addison's Disease. Being a runner, I was instantly intrigued and decided to creepily comment and ask Alycia about it. She informed me that it was in Australia, where she lives, so that was a ...