What's Wrong with Me? Part 2

The path to figuring out what was
going on was not straight-forward.
Unfortunately, both the doctors and I
only ever looked at one issue at a
time. When what was needed, was
to look at my whole self (mind and body)
to figure out WHAT's WRONG WITH ME?

Please, read Part 1 if you haven't yet:

 What's Wrong With Me? Part 1

Bless my doctor.  First off, we had fairly recently moved to a small tall an hour north of Grand Rapids, MI.  I had just changed to him as my general practitioner the year before. After the recent diagnosis of ADD, here I am again, sitting in his office in tears.  I could tell he thought I was just a stressed-out mess, but I tried my best to explain that this is all something new.  He brought up the term Fibromyalgia, but he admitted he didn't know much about it.  He ordered thorough blood work and an appointment with an immunologist.  All tests came up with normal results-no issues. My fears of the big C were alleviated.

In the meantime, I began to research all things Fibromyalgia.  I found some good information and some that were pretty detrimental.  One really helpful website has been fedupwithfatigue.com by Donna who explains her own journey-first with Fibromyalgia and then with the additional diagnosis of Lyme Disease.  She has spent a lot of time researching and then sharing with fairly impartial information.  It was her Fibro 101 page that connected me to all sorts of helpful information. (More later.)

Meanwhile, things at work had gotten impossible.  On December 7, 2018, I called in sick.  This was not a usual thing for me.  And in fact, after officially announcing my retirement for May 31, 2019, I planned on getting a nice lump sum of money for all my sick days.  That wasn't meant to be.  After a weekend in bed, I couldn't go in on Monday, then Tuesday, then Wednesday... I contacted my personnel director who let me know that I could go on long-term leave and that I had enough days saved up that I had the rest of the year covered.

This was the hardest thing I had to do-give up control of my classroom after 32 years of teaching.  As desperate as I had become, I knew it was what I had to do. Luckily, a wonderful, young teacher who had just spent the first half of the year teaching 6th grade in our district was available for the long term job.  So, I left my classroom and school community, never to return again.

What has your journey been to discover what's wrong? The more we share with one another, I believe the better this process will get for others. The fact that doctors tend to treat one issue at a time not looking at the whole person is one that is slowly changing for the better. More and more mind/body connection is being acknowledged.  What is your experience?

Thank you for visiting my blog today. 

I am committing to posting once a week on Fridays.  

However, as you know, my new normal means that sometimes I have

to listen to my body and am not able to follow through as planned. 

Thank you for your understanding.

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