The past 15 months or so have rocked the globe with changes. That reality for me has been no different.
Lots of changes, but also lots of new experiences and opportunities.
The pandemic. Of course, COVID-19 has had an impact on everyone and everything. For me, it was triggering. Being alone and not being able to get help when I needed it, took me back to my chemo days. Add in all the insane, unrealistic expectations of my previous job. I dove into an extended depression.
My body reacted to everything going on and I have had more health struggles this past year than I've had since I was in treatment. New types and symptoms and triggers for my migraines. New diabetes diagnosis. Lab results unexplainably out of whack. Fortunately, I now have an amazing health care team and things are being addressed.
The end of August, I began attending virtual AYA (Adolescent and Young Adult) cancer support groups. They have been an amazing saving grace for me. I am a little outside the typically considered age range for that, and was at the point of my diagnosis 5 years ago, but they have welcomed me into the folds completely. I started hosting some meetings and filling in for organizers at times.
In September, I made a leap of faith. Left my job working for a large pediatric hospital. Started working for myself from home. Doing writing and moderating online with a little social media management/consulting mixed in. I'm financially not quite where I want to be, but I'm getting there. The bills are getting paid and I have a small amount of entertainment, so that is something. The key thing is that I am SO MUCH HAPPIER! I am less stressed, have more energy and am able to take better care of myself.
In November, I was fortunate to be a part of a panel discussion with GRYT Health's Global Virtual Cancer Conference. It was an amazing experience and I'm glad a virtual event was my first opportunity to verbally talk about my experiences on a wide scale. I've embedded the video below.
I started this blog in 2018. Since then, I have started writing for 2 websites and moderating for a third through the parent company, Health Union. I write and moderate for BladderCancer.net and Type2Diabetes.com and moderate for Migraine.com. My experience with this company has been wonderful and I'm able to get compensated for the work that I do. I have always wanted to be a writer and working with HU has allowed me to make this a reality.
Just this past month, I have been fortunate enough, through bizarre twists of fate, to land a regular freelance writing gig at a small town, reservation newspaper. It has been an honor to write for the West River Eagle and learn more about the community and the Lakota culture. I look forward to doing more work with them and will plan to visit the town, Eagle Butte, SD, in the future.
I would welcome more opportunities to write on a regular or semi-regular basis. Although I have not been regularly creating new materials on this site, I am still creating and sharing my story and am getting to a point that I soon hope to start creating more stories here soon.
If there are topics around #bladdercancer or #ostomies that you would like to read about, please let me know. I'd be happy to write about what my audience wants to read about.
Next year I will start the year off with (hopefully) getting bariatric surgery so I'll have some tales for that, I'm sure. I will also be traveling to HOUSTON, TX in August 2022 to attend the national conference for the United Ostomy Associations of America. I plan on writing of those adventures as well. I will revisit my adventures from August 2019 and post about that as well. That was the last conference and I traveled to Eagle Bay, NY for some vacation time as well.
Until next time, remember YOUR VOICE MATTERS! Use it. Share your stories.
If you are interested in any of the other things I've been involved with, you can check out my Linktree or feel free to contact me and ask.
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