Keep Calm and Fight!

So the world imploded last week.

Again...

First Trump won the Presidency in 2017. We had him keeping the seat warm till 2021. Now we're in for him again. Both times he ran against women. The first time he lost the popular vote. Or as I like to think of it the "real" vote. The second time he won "for real" with the majority of America preferring a narcissistic dictator to a woman of color. Of course they did. No surprise there. Women of color are valued the least in this country.

Vice President Kamala Harris.

I really wish she was our new President.

I was crushed, then enraged. Disgusted with every single person who voted for him. I grieved for what could have been under a more liberal, collaborative leader. 

Now I'm just sick and tired of women being treated like trash. Of course there are other parts of the world that are much worse. But on average I do not feel like women are valued at all.

Like a phoenix I'm rising from despair into action. Women's causes are now my number one interest. I'm taking my time to consider where my help would be most impactful, but I am planning on actively working for the greater good of women. 

August 26,1920 Women are given the right to vote.
Not very long ago

Will that be a support group for disabled women? For mother's of special needs offspring? Volunteering at Planned Parenthood? Working for reproductive rights, equal pay and other women's causes? I'm not quite sure yet. My time is limited, so I want to make sure I'm making the greatest impact possible with what skills I have.

Maybe even just a women's only support group where we de-stress and share? A women's circle.

Hmmmm, that has potential.

Support Group

 

I'm starting a support group in my community...

(Click to make bigger!)

For years now I've been trying to find the kind of support group I felt like I needed. Only to realize that it doesn't exist. At least not anywhere around me. Exhausted from looking I decided I'm starting one. Women only (because men tend to take up more space both verbally and emotionally.) 18+ So that we all have more in common.

It is my hope that we can form a community where we can share and support each other in our huge struggle. 

I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, but this group is free. While you wait for our monthly gathering you can poke around my blog to learn more about me. Yes, Max will also be joining me. I look forward to meeting YOU!

“This event is not sponsored by Yolo County Library and the presence of this group in the meeting room does not constitute Yolo County Library’s endorsement of the policies or beliefs of this group.”

Help is HERE!

I had three medical appointments last week, each good in their own way. The great news is that my meningioma (the benign brain tumor from last year) is all clear, no new growth and my brain bounced right back in to fill the cavity. YAYYY! At least my brain is athletic! So that's fantastic news. I also don't need another brain MRI for another year. 

Getting medical help is very exciting

My neurosurgeon recommended I do 23andMe genetic testing. He said they can be pretty thorough and may find something that we don't know about yet. So that's in the works right now.

The next bit of good news is a have a neurologist that I love. He was super compassionate, a great listener and had a lot of fantastic ideas on how to help me NOW. I told him most of my doctors get so caught up in wanting to find out what the underlying cause of my issues are that they overlook how to help me suffer less today. He was awesome and did both. 

He reviewed my chart, asked questions and went over my timeline with me. He asked about my symptoms and was upfront with what he knew and didn't know. He's an MS specialist and he wants me to see a Myopathy specialist in the same office next week just to talk genetics, but he's all about helping me now. Also many of my symptoms are similar to MS, even if the cause is different. 

The biggest takeaway for me was that he said I have Mitochondrial Myopathy (MM). He said "The two hallmark symptoms of MM are muscle weakness with any kind of exertion" (check) and "Muscle energy crash with any kind of illness" (double check). No one had ever put it to me that way before. I asked him to officially change my diagnosis in my chart and I hope he does so soon. It's helpful for me and to keep everyone on the same page. 

BUT he also had some other ideas and suggestions. First off he thinks my dizziness, foggy brain and vision problems may or may not be connected to the myopathy. He thinks it's just as likely that I'm suffering from "Intractable Migraine". He said with this type of migraine it's more likely that you'll just have my symptoms instead of the classic traditional migraine. He said it's also incredibly common to have this type of migraine after my kind of brain surgery and/or with my myopathy... but bottom line he considers it a different beast from MM. Interesting. 

Bruce wants to help too

Help take a nap that is

Before diving into a new medication for the possible migraine he recommended I try a combination of Vitamin B-2, Magnesium (800mg a day) and Feverfew. It comes in one pill (thank God!) in something called "Migrelief". So I'm giving that a go for a month till we move try a possible prescription for it. 

He also gave me a lot of referrals for services that might help my CURRENT symptoms. YAYYYY!!! I can't even tell you how amazing that was to hear. 

So here were my main takeaways and diagnosis complete with links:

• Intractable Migraine. Could be causing the dizziness and foggy headedness.
• Dysphasia. Fancy name for choking on your own spit like a big dork for no reason.
• Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. A magical place that will help with my tools and other mobility needs.
• Mitochondrial Myopathy What the neurologist thinks is my overall diagnosis and what's going on with my muscles (due to a genetic mutation.) 
• Speech Therapy For my issues I'm having lately with talking.
• Temporal Muscle. Issues with scarring and muscle tensing from brain surgery last year.
• Therapies for Mitochondrial Disease

(I received no incentive, kickback, discount or payment for ANY of my links.)