Growing Deeper Roots: My Story of Invisible Illness

As I mentioned a while back, I was in a senior thesis production this semester. It was a two character play called Running by Arlene Hutton. I took on the role because I needed to have a creative outlet while pushing through my last year at WAC. It was a tolling process and there were many times, like two weeks ago when I could barely stand without fainting, when I thought that I had made a horrible mistake when I committed to the show. I was terrified of fainting on stage or falling into a brain fog period while performing. I took a major gamble.  The crew worked to develop a plan for every possible situation that could arise. I had an understudy ready to take my place in the worst case scenario and the ushers and house managers were alerted to the possibility of a potential episode. I had a heart monitor on the whole time and the stage manager monitored my heart throughout the performance, with a threshold in mind for an indiction that I was symptomatic. We even had a "fainti...

As I mentioned, I have returned to WAC a week early to train as a Peer Mentor. The Peer Mentor program is designed to match upperclassmen with first year students during orientation and the first semester so that the first year students have someone to guide them through their transition. This is my second year as a PM and I really enjoy it. Two of my suite mates and a bunch of my other friends are also PMs, so training and orientation is a blast! We started training on Friday. Then, on Saturday, we went to Echo Hill ( http://www.ehos.org/ ) for a bonding retreat. Now we are back in the classroom, training until the freshman arrive on Thursday. I've been using this time to practice in the wheelchair and experiment with my walking abilities around campus before everyone else arrives. I'm getting pretty good but there are still many of parts on campus that are too steep for me. Peer Mentor training is surprisingly fun and exciting. Although we have several boring sessions a ...

Friends, Today was difficult. It was difficult because it was my first trial with the wheelchair on my school (WAC)'s campus. As lovely and aesthetically pleasing the 300 year old campus may be, it is not exactly wheelchair friendly. I had a lot of difficulty going up and down hills with uneven brick paths. I also found out how inconveniently placed all the elevators are in buildings.  But it was also difficult because it was the rude awakening to a hopeful dream of an easy return. It was the first day of a long, challenging semester ahead. I have been spoiled with the hardwood floors in my house and the even terrain I've been wheeling around all summer. Now, I have to adjust to the much more challenging environment I will be living in.  It was also my first day waking up at 6 am and having a constant stream of activity since I've gotten sick. I have been spoiled with low activity days and mental rest. Today, I remembered how tolling it can all be. By the time I got ...