I welcomed the new year watching fireworks at the beach with friends in Adelaide, reflecting on what a big year I've had. I felt so happy and content with my feet in the Gulf of St Vincent in the city I grew up in, I spent some time just thinking about how much I have grown and changed this year. It was one of the best new year's I have had, and it gave me a lot of hope for the future.
2012 was a hard year, no doubt about it. I was introduced to the world of chronic illness in March, when I learnt that there was a name for how awful I had been feeling. With that came relief, but also confusion, grief and unease. Throughout 2012 I learnt a lot about control and limits and I think I'm a better person because of it (I'm definitely calmer!) I'm excited to keep learning and growing and I can't wait to see what I'm like a year from today!
Some lists because lists are fun:
Highlights, lowlights and everything in between
- Being diagnosed with Stage III endometriosis through my very first surgery and hospital admission in March
- Travelling to the USA (twice), Germany, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia
- Catching every disease going around until I realised my limitations
- Spending quality time with my family as my grandma turned 100
- Mourning the loss of my spunky great aunt Babe
- I stopped biting my nails after years of trying in July (for those trying to stop - gel nails are how I did it!)
- Celebrating Christmas with Lisa in her country town
- Starting this blog
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| the disco ball installed at a friend's house | lisa & maisy | lisa's fun christmas banner | the christmas drinks i made | the christmas spread |
Resolutions (some of them link in with my bucket list)
- Try the endo diet (mostly cut down on wheat, soy and dairy as much as possible)
- As much as I can, cook my food from scratch and don't have takeout (this includes cutting down on packaged lollies etc)
- Keep up the good work with not biting my nails (this is the first year ever that I haven't had to make the resolution to stop!!)
- Continue to recognise my limitations and give myself the rest I need
- Refrain from buying a single disposable water bottle all year
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| homemade caesar salad | my nails |
What I’m looking forward to in 2013
- Seeing two good friends get married in March
- Getting the Mirena taken out
- More visitors (Mum, Dad, Laura, Lisa and Ben… now it’s on my blog they really do have to come!)
- Going on a tour of Google in Sydney (also since it is now on my blog it has to happen...)
- Trying out the endo diet
- Taking better care of myself
I hope that you had a lovely and restful holiday season :)
Not that it's any of my business, but may I ask why you are having the Mirena taken out?
ReplyDeleteI only ask, because it's been quite the life-saver for me, but it took almost a year before I saw the true benefits of it - until then I was spot bleeding every day.
No problem! I think pretty much anything endo related is open for questions here anyway. The reason I am getting the Mirena taken out is because the depression and anxiety was getting too much, and my gyne thinks that it is quite likely that it was related to the Mirena (for more detail, see this post where I explain it better http://vintagelib.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/a-new-plan.html). I have been seeing a counsellor and have been taking other measures against it as well which helped for awhile but I still always feel like I'm teetering on the edge, and I was thinking about making some major life changes because of the terrible moods I've been in which is not good...
DeleteIt really is a shame because the Mirena did pretty much stop my periods which helped a lot, but for me, I just couldn't deal with the mood problems it gave me (I was on it for ten months - got it taken out today).
Ah, I see, I can actually completely relate to that. I was on two different kind of progesterone-only pills before, but had to go off them as they made me terribly depressed, but for some reason I tolerate the Mirena well - maybe because the amount of hormone is much smaller?
DeleteYeh, I was really truly hoping that the smaller amount of hormone would mean that it didn't affect me in that way, but unfortunately it seems to have :(. I'm glad to hear that it works for you though, and I do think it's something that people should try, because you never know!
DeleteThere are lots of horror stories on the internet about it but I think what it boils down to is that you are always going to get horror stories of medication gone wrong no matter what, and endo seems to have particular problems with doctor-patient communication. I know my first gyne dismissing the depression/anxiety I was feeling in the first few months after my surgery as "not anything to do with the Mirena", and basically not his problem, was definitely not the way to handle it. In my experience, it is a lot easier to deal with endo symptoms and stuff like anxiety/depression if you have a doctor who is understanding, listens to you and recognises your concerns.
I agree completely - 6 years of doctors telling me "it was all in my head", I'm very cautious of doctors who don't even try to understand you.
ReplyDeleteWoohoo for 2013 and making that visit and google trip happen xx
ReplyDelete