-
Mommy’s Sick
I have been sick since the day my son was born. One miraculous moment became my greatest sacrifice – my life for his. It was the epidural for his birth that went wrong, triggering a snowball of health issues that have never ceased. I didn’t know it right away. I didn’t know it when I repeatedly asked the postpartum nurse for headache medication. I didn’t know it when my body was in excruciating pain just trying to breastfeed. Or when I sat sprawled out in his pediatrician’s office, nauseated to no end. From the very beginning of my son’s life, I was deprived irreplaceable time with him. My husband had…
-
The Broken Body
Do you remember when your body broke? I do. Thursday, January 26, 2017. 9:30 am. It was the day I had my first child. It was the moment I had the epidural that went too far. Sure, that’s a common occurrence. Countless women experience it. The needle penetrates too far into the dura that surrounds the spinal cord and causes spinal fluid to leak out from around your brain. Excruciating headaches ensue. Sometimes the body heals itself before the new mother even notices. Other times, the skull crushing pain lingers for weeks or even months afterwards. The good news is doctors can fix this. All they have to do is…
-
“But You Don’t Look Sick.”
Do I look sick to you? Odds are I don’t. But I am living with an invisible illness. I am living with chronic pain. Do you know what unusual mentality comes along with being chronically ill? Paranoia. “But you don’t look sick.” Is a phrase so commonly used among the sick that we begin to question it ourselves. What if it is all in my head? What if it’s really not so bad? What if I could hold a job right now? What if I really didn’t need to cancel plans today? Maybe I’m not that sick after all. How can I be if I don’t look it? I even…
