We always start in the same place. Here. We can't start there. Only here. Where we are. The place we occupy in space and time when we make the very important decision to start. And I am here. I've been here a while. Years. Some days the start is difficult—nearly impossible. And some days the start is calm and sweet, filled with peace and possibility. This was originally going to be my "year-end" end blog post. It was going to discuss all the things that I learned in 2017 and

If you've been following my journey with health issues at all, you probably already know all the things. But I'll recap quickly for the newcomers and forgetters. *I have gained 100 pounds in the last ten years despite healthy eating and consistent exercise *numerous doctor's appointments were a bust until I went to a rock star endocrinologist *I have a benign brain tumor that causes my hormones to do the wacky *my treatment began last November *my thyroid is also being a litt

I had my 6 month check up today with my endocrinologist. First of all, can I just say I really like my doctor? Like, this guy knows his shit. And he listens. AND TAKES NOTES. So all through my appointment he was asking me about symptoms I had only briefly mentioned during our initial consultation. Things I had completely forgotten about. Because, you know, brain tumor. So here's the update. Since I know that's what you're all really here for. The tumor is responding as it sho

I've almost reached the 6th month mark of tumor treatment. For those of you just joining us, I have a tumor. It's on my pituitary gland. Which happens to be housed in this cavern behind my eyes. So... the brain-ish area. I technically can't call it a brain tumor because it's not touching any brain tissue. But it is really, really close to it. And my mom doesn't seem to care for it when I try to differentiate the terminology. But she's my mom. She's totally allowed to call it

Don't freak out. The good news is, it's not cancer. I feel like I need to tell everyone that right away. Not. Cancer. I also keep telling people it's not that big of a deal. Because, in all reality, it's not. It's a very small deal. 4mm to be exact. Just a tiny little deal that's affixed to my pituitary. I'm not sure how long it's been there. My guess? A long time. Judging by my ongoing symptoms. But the stress of the past year or so seems to have really punched those symptom