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 saw one of the most uninformed and ignorant tweets on my feed last Monday afternoon. It honestly made my blood boil and I had to refrain from going off on the boy's literal DUMB ass. The gist of the tweet was: America should just do away with all pills in general and rely solely on the use of medical marijuana and natural remedies because it's much safer.  Excuse me?  For me, personally, the idea is ludicrous. The manufactured drugs I take multiple times daily honestly keep. me. alive. Unfortunately, getting high isn't going to prolong anyone's life span when they are seriously ill. While medical marijuana may have pain killing benefits for those suffering from diseases like cancer, I'm no medical expert, but I think chemotherapy and radiation are far more adept at combatting the root of such illness.  I'm not sure where his thoughtless tweet stems from, but it's certainly not from a place of knowledge or experience. A Very Lucky Girl will continue to t...