I normally try to keep my posts humorous and hopeful. Today I wrote something for myself, and I wasn’t going to share it here. It was negative and full of woe, because some days aren’t great. So I get it out in a way that works for me, in this case written words. As I have said before it is ok to not be ok, to have an off day. You can spend some time there if you must, nurture yourself, but then put on your big girl pants and move on. It has become second nature. Get up in the morning, make myself something to eat,sit down, swallow a…

Before I got out of bed this morning I pulled back my covers and saw them with my own two eyes-clearly defined ankles. I almost took a picture to prove they are still there. Knowing that it will not be long before they are filled with fluid and resembling something more sausage like in nature. It doesn’t take long before edema settles in. I showed my sisters my ankles last night, and I was surprised by there shock. It’s strange what becomes our norm. My sister compared them to a Temperpedic mattress, and it is a pretty accurate reference. For those who haven’t slept on one of these mattresses, when…

So maybe a little dramatic, but actually a very accurate statement. You see I have been recently diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder, IgA Nephropathy. I am a nurse and still didn’t know much about this disease prior to being diagnosed. You see I hadn’t been feeling well for quite awhile leading up to this. A list of vague symptoms and I failed to connect the dots. Prior to this I was very active and somewhere over the past year noticed that I just didn’t have the same energy or exercise tolerance. I got intermittent swelling in my ankles, but I contributed that to the heat or overuse. I was always…