Cal-EZ Blog

For this blog I wanted to switch it up! I'm having one of my best friends actually write it for me!

I wanted the perspective of an outside person and what it's like being around someone with Hypopara as often as she is. This woman has really changed my outlook on my illness and on my life. I'm so blessed to have such strong women in my life.

(I'll actually be reading what she writes at the same time as everyone else, I'm excited to see what she has to say).

When there is a rare or underserved disease in your life it can be extremely difficult to know where you are on the scale of doing well or doing poorly. I know that sounds strange but let's explore some hypothetical "what ifs" for a moment.

As you know by now, my life forever changed 3 years ago, but I think it changed for the people around me even more.

I had to change my everyday routines to accommodate and adjust to my chronic illness. This meant the life of everyone close to me and around me had to do the same. This change brought on some anger and resentment. Why should their life have to change so much? They didn’t sign up for this. What about them and their feelings?

There are two words that I live by these days: "Determination" and "Independence". When I was diagnosed with hypoparathyroidism 3 years ago I was more determined than ever to maintain my independence.

I had my thyroidectomy October 14th, 2011 and I had no prior knowledge of hypopara or really any of the risks of having the surgery. When I was discharged 2 days later all I was told was if my face around my mouth went numb to come back right away, but still was told why. I went home and started the healing process (it's not nice having your neck sliced open).

I eventually went back to work which was somewhat easy because I had a desk job and an amazing boss and co-workers. However, I started to notice that my arms and legs always felt like they were asleep - they were always tingling - but none of the doctors ever mentioned it so I kept pushing on.

In the chronic illness community, whether on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest, you see many posts about what sick people DO NOT want to hear from others.

At one time or another, we've all heard the classic "but you don't look sick" comment from someone. For me, it used to make me really mad when someone would comment on how good I look or how much weight I'd lost. I'd want to scream, "I'M STARVING YOU IGNORANT JERK!!!!" In our society, if someone loses weight, it's usually because they're trying to. People will comment and encourage their progress. Now, if someone says "you look good" to me, I usually say, "Thanks! Glad I don't look as bad as I feel!" These awkward moments happen because people just don't know what to say when talking about chronic illnesses.