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Being Chronically Mommy...

Welcome to the second in my chronic pain blog series. My first was my most well-known about my life struggle, balance, etc. with chronic pain and illness in "I Already Gave My Right Arm To Be Ambidextrous!" It is now titled "Now Read My HIPS!" and the focus has changed a bit to be more about how I am a woman with several joint diseases and conditions with a shoulder replacement and two hip replacements and am belly dancing! Visit Now Read My HIPS! to follow that entertaining, fun journey (alreadygavertarm2bambidextrous.blogspot.com). I also have a Blog Talk Radio Show with the same title about chronic pain and healing.

This blog is a little bit different. It has been focusing on my being a mommy and having a chronic illness. I have been and will continue to focus on health and pain info as well that I once wrote about in Now Read My HIPS! I think it is important to separate this from the rest of my life. It is not easy to have a chronic illness, but adding a child to the mix certainly has its share of trying times as well as beautiful, unforgettable moments.


I am so grateful for our little boy Mick. I can't believe that he is 6 years old as of December of 2016. Time has flown by! He is a dream come true. He has completed my confusing, complicated life. In a very huge way, he has made my life a lot more worth living. Although I have a wonderful husband, we always wanted a family, and I feel like we are now complete and happy. I have something to wake up to, and I have something to live for~Mick! It really is it's own microcosm of my life~Being Chronically Mommy!


...Being Chronically Mommy!

...Being Chronically Mommy!
...Being Chronically Mommy!

Baby Ticker

 Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
Help, I need somebody,
Help, not just anybody,
Help, you know I need someone, help.

When I was younger, so much younger than today,
I never needed anybody's help in any way.
But now these days are gone, I'm not so self assured,
Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors.

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won't you please, please help me.

And now my life has changed in oh so many ways,
My independence seems to vanish in the haze.
But every now and then I feel so insecure,
I know that I just need you like I've never done before.

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won't you please, please help me.

When I was younger, so much younger than today,
I never needed anybody's help in any way.
But now these daya are gone, I'm not so self assured,
Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors.

Families are Forever

Blog with Integrity

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Monday, May 6, 2013

“But you’re too young”


I fight very hard to spread awareness and educate those who are ignorant to what autoimmune arthritis is. When someone sees me park in a disabled parking spot and then tells me I can't park there because it is for someone who has a disability, I get very angry! I first think of it as a teachable moment. I tell the person that I have autoimmune arthritis. Of course, people never totally hear you! They many times will automatically come back with some kind of story about their grandmother having arthritis in her knee or something similar. Then they will end up somehow coming back to you, saying, "but you're too young..." Again, I will continue with the education. I will explain that autoimmune arthritis is not the same as your grandmother's arthritis. Then I will explain that even children can get autoimmune arthritis. Although, I am upset and mad that people don't know this, I try to use this as an opportunity to educate them and make them aware.

Because of many of my doctors' mentality of "but you're too young..." it took until I was 27 to finally have a name for my autoimmune arthritis disease. I was ignored, treated like a hypochondriac, and basically pushed away becaused of that mentality and by health professionals too! It isn't just uneducated, ignorant people who question whether or not I am too young to get arthritis. Doctors have also fallen into the category of people who need to be made aware of what autoimmune arthritis actually is and who it affects. It can be exhausting, overwhelming, and frustrating dealing with health care professionals who should know better, who should be keeping up with the current health diagnoses to know that even children get arthritis. It isn't just an old person's disease!

I look at it also from the angle that when I was very young, still a child, and I was trying to find out what was wrong with me, not one doctor tested me or looked into autoimmune arthritis diseases. When I was a child, there weren't many doctors that specialized in that area, especially for children, and very few doctors looked into a child having a type of arthritis because of the mentality of "but you're too young..." Although this has changed somewhat, and now there are pediatric rheumatologists to help diagnose young children earlier and without hitting a brick wall of "but you're too young." Of course, even though there are now pediatric rheumatologists, there are very few and not nearly enough to offer to those suffering from symptoms of autoimmune arthritis. If there were more pediatric rheumatologists, more children would be diagnosed sooner and more doctors would understand that with autoimmune arthritis there is no "too soon."

I know that when someone says to me or someone I know "but you're too young," that I get angry. I try to use that emotion toward gathering the information to teach those that are uneducated. There is no age on autoimmune arthritis disease. Everyone is different, and everyone is affected in different ways as well.
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