I am grateful for the unending, unconditional love and support of; my sisters, parents, brother-in-law, nieces and nephew, boyfriend and friends. I am grateful for friends (you know who you are), who have continued to check in on me, make me laugh, remind me who I was before I got sick and not let that part of me fade away. I am grateful to have an amazing man in my life who fell in love with me even though I felt broken. I am grateful I am still standing after the past 2 years. I am grateful to have a confirmed diagnosis. I am grateful that I am lucky enough to have the amazing people in my life that I do. I am grateful that I got sick, because I needed to learn the hardest lessons and I wasn't listening before. I am grateful that I am privileged to understand what it means to honor and appreciate my body. I am grateful I truly understand what it means to say, "you don't have anything if you don't have your health." I am grateful that illness taught me what the real priorities in life are. I am grateful that illness showed me that the only things that matter in life are the connections I have with others, and to help and be of service to others. I am grateful that illness taught me perspective and that my heroes are now the doctors and researchers who are literally saving lyme patient's lives every day. I am grateful to have met other lyme patients, whose courage has shown me the way. I am grateful that I have the means to see a doctor who can help me, get the medicine I need, and to be in a place I can heal. I am grateful that this illness showed me I am stronger than I ever knew I was.
Hi Amy,
ReplyDeleteI had time tonight to catch up on your blog. I was just going to check the latest post but couldn't stop reading. I was just blown away by all you've been through over the past couple months. I am so moved by your tenacity. You are truly inspiring. My illness isn't the same as yours (as you know) but we have many of the same side-effects. I guess that's what you'd call them. So it's so helpful to see how someone else deals with similar issues.
I'm so happy for you that you got an official diagnosis! It's so scary to not know what's going on isn't it? To finally know that my main problem is hypothyroidism is a relief. It took so many years to figure out something that is seemingly so mainstream!
And I thought Lyme was pretty mainstream and easy to diagnose too. I will now go and read up on it some more. Sometimes it seems like doctors know as much about the human body as we do about outer space.
Well, thanks again for your great writing. And I hope your holidays are filled with continued optimism and strength.
Mary