This Is How I Roll

This is a picture of Lady Gaga in her gold plated wheelchair.

This is a picture of Lady Connie in her rental wheelchair from the medical supply place.

You may remember these incidents. This one and this one.

Well, the road to recovery is rarely a smooth one. I guess we all know that. It's just that these past few years have been CHALLENGING to say the least.

NOTICE: This isn't a very cheerful post so if you'd rather read something a little fluffier, stop reading this right now and go here.*** The Cheery Blossom Girl always cheers me up. Merci, Alix. 

I started this blog as a little distraction in my daily life.

In December of 2009 I was diagnosed with leukemia. Or as my brother calls it "the worst Christmas present ever." Bummer. I went through chemo in January 2010 and after a tough recovery I was finally in remission when a tumor was discovered on my thyroid. Double Bummer. Luckily it was benign but I had to have it surgically removed and since I had not yet fully recovered from the chemo, the recovery from the surgery plus an intense bout of hypothyroidism left me like a wet dish rag. I actually hallucinated a few times which was about the only bright spot of this whole time. But as a former hippie I have to admit that the hallucinations were AWESOME.

When I finally started to feel a little bit like myself again I decided to go back to work at the fancy schmancy clothing boutique where I had been working before I fell ill.

I had not been back to work a month when my manager, a TOTAL SOCIOPATH, pulled me into her office a berated me for two full hours because she felt that I was asking for too many days off to visit the doctor (I had to have weekly blood tests) and I "appeared tired" and had "a bad attitude."

Yeah, I had a bad attitude because I worked for HER. I promptly quit. But it was sad because I LOVED my coworkers and I LOVED the clothing discounts and of course, I liked the paycheck.

But I was still teaching Pilates a little bit and I have a ton of adorable friends and the most loving family. So I sucked it up.

Then in 2011 I was diagnosed with skin cancer. Triple Bummer. After three surgeries I had to undergo seven weeks of radiation. It was NOT FUN. The hypothyroidism came back and my body decided to go through menopause. I won't even elaborate on that. I don't think I NEED to. Right, Ladies??

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Then I started my little schblog. I had spent so much time reading blogs while I was recuperating from this and that and I found that unless you HAVE a blog it's difficult to comment. As you can tell I'm a bit of a chatter box and to be stuck at home with noone to talk to I was THRILLED to have some friends. Even if they were only online. I could check in on them in the middle of the night or early in the morning or any time really. My friends and family at home were much more persnickety about this schedule than were my blog friends.

AND WHAT FRIENDS YOU ARE!!!!!!

You have given me so much support as I go through my latest medical adventure which shall now be known as Bummer Number Four. Some nerve root damage from back surgery has made this a very difficult recovery. The good news is that nerves do repair themselves. The bad news is that they grow at a rate of about 1mm a month. The good new is that I'm not very tall so the nerves have a much shorter trip than usual. And the big bad news is that because of intense muscle spasms in my feet I CAN'T WEAR SHOES. Did I mention that I CAN'T WEAR SHOES?! Augh! I LOVE SHOES. So this has been really tough. I spend a lot of time perusing Zappos...just dreaming of footwear. Oh well...  

I will eventually get better. Things could be much much worse. Sure, I'm sad and depressed at times. I can't walk very well yet. It is frustrating and painful and lonely.

But I want to let you know how much YOU mean to me. I would have gone totally BONKERS if I hadn't have had my blog friends to cheer me up. I'm reading about your adventures every day. And your sweet sweet words of encouragement have kept me going on days when I just wanted to stay in my pj's and cry. Some of you have even sent me personal notes which is amazing. AMAZING!!

In light of some of the things going on in the world right now MY problems are pretty miniscule.

These are not the first bumps on my little journey through life and I'm sure they won't be the last. It just helps sometimes to have a few travelling companions to grab your hand when you need it. Thank you for coming along for the ride. I will always be there for YOU if you ever need me.

ENORMOUS AIR HUG!

Connie*