Category: Humor

Oversharing

Laptop on a desk

My best friend was coming over to spend the night for the first time. I could barely sit still while my right foot soaked in a bucket of warm water before she arrived. I had slept over at her house many times, but she had been too afraid to sleep at mine. Her fear baffled me. We just had conquered first grade and she had played happily at my house for countless hours. Besides, the best part of a sleepover is escaping your parents and their rules!

My mom, sitting in a chair across from me, picked up my right foot, wiped it with a towel, and set it on her knee for our nightly ritual. A plantar wart had taken root in the center of my heel–evidence of a summer well-spent at the local pool. My mom assured me the wart wouldn’t hurt me, although as she scraped away the dead skin, I questioned her intentions and kicked her a few times. Afterwards, I admired the progress of the wart’s eviction–my tiny science experiment.

This night, however, the wart surrendered, releasing from my foot and dropping into the bucket of water below. My mom and I cheered. “I want to see it!” I begged, eager to size up the enemy. To my surprise, the wart floated like a tiny jellyfish with long, translucent tentacles swaying in the water. I assessed the damaged to my foot–a deep, yet, smooth, red crater.

“You cannot mention this tonight,” my mom warned. “You’ll freak her out.”

I had briefly forgotten about my long-anticipated sleepover. I imagined my friend’s overreaction, the horror in her eyes. “Duh,” I told my mom.

When my friend arrived, I raced to show her all the cool things in my house. Or least the most interesting things and tried to make them sound cool. After about an hour, I ran out of ideas. I sensed her boredom; she sensed my desperation. I closed my bedroom door and asked, “Wanna see my foot?”

I whipped off my sock and presented my heel. She didn’t scream or gasp. She stared as I told her everything my mom had taught me about warts. I assured her that it was no longer contagious. I studied her face. She seemed curious, not frightened. I put my sock back on to reassure her, just in case.

Later that night, when I was brushing my teeth, I heard my friend talking to my mom in the kitchen. I heard the phone be lifted from its receiver. My mom appeared in the bathroom doorway. “I told you not to talk about your foot!” she scolded me.

Fifteen minutes later, my friend’s mom came to pick her.

*****

So, the main reason I created this blog was because my Facebook friends couldn’t handle my oversharing. Turns out everyone wants to be your Facebook friend until you post something boring, frightening, or disgusting. Well, I’m not boring.

Chronic illness has increased what I like to call my “generous honesty”. Life is too short for small talk and I left all my shame in an ambulance in Florida. I have never sugarcoated my illness and if you ask me what I did last weekend, I am going to tell you which body part broke.

I share my experiences on social media for many reasons:

  1. I live in solitary confinement and poodles are bad listeners
  2. Sometimes I need validation that my disease is total shit and I am a badass
  3. Therapy is expensive and my last therapist quit the profession, which is way more insulting being unfriended on Facebook

But most importantly, my posts help people. Yes, my stories are terrifying and sometimes disgusting, but everyone has body that is probably going to do some scary shit before inevitably falling apart. I feel a duty to normalize illness and disability, because for every ten people who unfriend me, one person privately messages me and thanks me for sharing my experience.

*****

The next summer, shortly after graduating from second grade, the phone rang. “It’s for you,” my mom said.

“Hello?” I answered.

My friend softly stuttered on the other end. She said, “I have wart on my foot, and my mom and I were wondering how you got rid of yours.”

I walk circles around the hospital

Everyone warns you that prednisone will make you fat, and when it does make you fat, they remind you that prednisone made you fat. Meanwhile, you’re just trying to stay alive. In 2015, before I was diagnosed, I became dependent on daily prednisone to control my symptoms and allow me to keep working. My weight gain did not frighten me; it seemed like a reasonable side effect in exchange for keeping my job, health care, and sanity.

However, no one warned me prednisone can cause muscle wasting. Contrary to popular belief, prednisone will not turn you into The Incredible Hulk. While it may incite bouts of rage, long-term use will actually convert you in A Blubbering Blob that has to ask grandma for help standing up. My arms became swollen noodles unable to compensate for my collapsing legs. I relied on my toy poodle to pick up items on the floor. (Note: get a bigger dog.)

Although I stopped daily prednisone four years ago, my muscles still haven’t fully recovered. To be honest, physical therapy hasn’t been a priority. I’ve been preoccupied with breathing and eating. Also, between MCAS and EDS, physical therapy can do more harm than good. Even well-intentioned specialists can cause injuries with life-altering consequences (e.g. CSF leaks). On the other hand, strengthening muscles can help stabilize joints and reduce injuries.

I have been walking a lot more lately though. Not because I want to rehab my muscles, but because I want to rehab my poodle’s muscles. Last fall, he injured his shoulder tendons and he had to wear a brace all winter. Now, his physical therapist has prescribed strength training, including daily walks.

Yes, I prioritize my dog’s physical therapy over my own. First of all, I still trust veterinarians; they understand my health issues better than most of my doctors. Second, my dog loves physical therapy. Maybe I would be more enthusiastic if someone fed me bacon or peanut butter every I lifted a leg.

Walking is my safest form of exercise, but it’s still difficult and exhausting. I worry about getting dizzy and passing out. I worry about getting stung by a bee and needing an ambulance. I worry about subluxing my hip or knee in the middle of my walk, and struggling to make it back. So, I walk circles around the hospital.

Trust me, it’s not as weird as it sounds.

I live next door to a hospital.

Okay, that part is slightly weird. I prefer to call it serendipitous. I bought my condo years before my MCAS diagnosis and subsequent emergency room visits. It is super convenient and it allows me avoid one of my greatest fears, asking for help. I just hobble over with my swollen throat, kidney stone, or spinal fluid leak. I never worry about my safety, even though passing out along the way is always possible. (I have considered a go kart.) Between the smokers, security guards, shift changes, and constant stream of ambulances, I know wouldn’t be left unattended for long.

Which leads me to my latest hobby: walking circles around the hospital. Sure, it’s no nature reserve, but I don’t worry about dying. Do you know what’s more soothing than chirping birds? The screaming sirens of ambulances rushing to save lives.

The sidewalk loops around the building for a perfect half-mile roundtrip. My poodle bounces along my side, putting much-needed smiles on visitors’ faces. Sometimes I consider waving through the window to the staff at the front desk, and shouting, “Hi neighbor! May I borrow a cup of Benadryl?”

My scale says I’ve gained a couple pounds this week. I hope it means I’m finally building muscle, not packing macaroni. I don’t need a bikini body, I just don’t want a weenie body, if I can help it.

The soup that helps me survive winter

I have never enjoyed cooking food. Maybe it’s because most food hurts me. Maybe it’s because standing in the kitchen makes me dizzy and exhausted. Maybe it’s because during my first cooking lesson, my mother told me that my great grandmother died in a cooking fire.

However, my body demands home cooked meals. Soy, garlic, onion, corn syrup, lactose, salicylates, and high-fiber foods make me feel like I’ve swallowed a demon. High histamine foods, basically all the remaining foods, make me puke within 20 minutes of ingestion. It’s easier to explain what I can eat: fresh, plain meat; potatoes; rice; bread; and butter.

This makes lunch at work incredibly difficult. I cannot breathe in restaurants, and there are no safe takeout foods. I cannot eat refrigerated food, which increases histamine, but frozen is okay.

My friend encouraged me to make soup, which sounded tasty. However, when I learned her recipe involves roasting a chicken and simmer the bones, I abandoned the idea. The only thing I roast are bad healthcare providers.

I don’t appreciate food enough to spend hours of my precious energy preparing it. I often remind myself that in the event of a zombie apocalypse I will die because I don’t know how to roast a squirrel. But let’s be honest, I probably can’t catch a squirrel and I’d probably die from running out of my medications first. I’d be lucky if I lived long enough for a zombie to eat me.

This year, when Minnesota’s windchill dropped to -50F, my body demanded soup. I scoured Whole Foods for a gastronomic compromise. To my delight, I discovered the nectar I’d been longing for: a chicken broth made without garlic or onions. From then on, it was surprisingly easy to develop low-energy soup recipes.

Here’s my recipe for chicken noodle soup:

  1. Think about making chicken noodle soup. Eat air sandwiches for lunch and sleep through dinner time until you are so hungry that you can’t feel your joint pain anymore.
  2. Eat cereal for energy to go to the store.
  3. Go to Whole Foods at 5 pm, because that’s when the rotisserie chickens are fresh. Buy one plain rotisserie chicken, celery, carrots, green onions, and 48 oz of 365 Everyday Value® Organic Chicken Broth. Pray that you still have basil, thyme, and pasta at home.
  4. Eat part of the chicken and take a nap.
  5. Maim the celery and carrots. I hate celery and carrots. They taste shit and aren’t going to cure me. But I eat them just in case.
  6. Sauté the vegetables in garlic oil if you feel fancy.
  7. Squirt the box of chicken broth into a pot over the vegetables, emulating the sights and sounds of colonoscopy prep. This is my favorite part.
  8. Dump basil, thyme, and pepper into the pot until it looks pretty and bring the broth to a boil.
  9. Add 2 cups of tri-color rotini because curls have more fun. Boil for 7 minutes.
  10. Remove from heat, add chopped chicken and green onions, and stir until you get tired or bored.
  11. Spoon into Pyrex bowls and freeze.
  12. Tell the poodles to do the dishes.