I hate thinking this and I hate typing it even more: I worry about it coming to get me ALL the time. It breaks free from this box/closet/cellar/basement/dungeon and sneaks up and....it gets me. This is a nightmare of mine. This worry/nightmare gets much, MUCH worse when I have a health 'scare'. For example, the first would be the large lymph node that popped up on my neck last year and the most recent scare with the mass/lipoma on my back last month. These ‘scares’ severely fuck with my mental state and are absolutely overwhelming, in every sense of the word. It takes me entirely way too long to bounce back to what is now my new “normal”.
As I’ve mentioned before, my body doesn't handle stress well. Not at all! Stress is a loud bitch. Stress screams and wakes up my ulcerative colitis, during it’s well deserved nap time, and 'it' becomes a full blown brat ('IT' meaning: ulcerative colitis - which now may be known simply as U.C.). Then it takes me weeks for the side effects from U.C. to go away. My belly hurts - stomach AND intestines alike - my joints ache and we can't forget that I also get ulcers in my mouth. Right now it hurts to talk and to eat – I just want to cry (again). I am mentally and physically drained. But my fingers don't hurt...that's why I am typing...
Due to my stage, statistically I have a 8% chance of dying within 5 years and a 14% chance of dying within 10… and I’ve been “fine” for almost 2 years. SO, why the hell am I freaking out?
Right???
I read stories daily of other people’s lives – their journeys, their family’s journeys – and then more importantly their deaths. That’s why I freak out. Plain and simple - that is exactly why I lose sleep, why I worry... I understand it is ‘their’ stories, ‘their’ lives, ‘their’ reality – but the unfortunate fact is that we all share a common denominator: Melanoma. Regardless of stage, Melanoma is the link that connects all of our stories into one, horrible, truth.
I decided to do something today in hopes of helping (me). As much as I hated doing it, I cancelled all of the notifications that I receive from this particular Melanoma group I am a part of on Facebook. I see several postings a day and it’s just too heartbreaking. I see one posting and then I get sucked in and I will continue to read comments and so forth. I realized that I am in a constant state of sadness for other people and a constant state of worry for me. That’s not a way to live – it’s not healthy by any means. I didn’t have the courage to fully remove myself from the group because I have grown fond of several of the members, but I had to do what needed to be done. I am too vulnerable at the moment; can’t see that stuff every single day. Shit just got real! So, I turned to avoidance like I do with other issues in my life - you know, since that's been working out so amazingly.
In other news I have been itching to get another tattoo! Haven't figured it out yet, but since I am impulsive with tattoos, I may never figure out what I truly want.
See how I just changed the topic? I'm so slick. Avoidance and comedy kids...it's what's hip!
No comments:
Post a Comment