{"id":3699,"date":"2014-04-26T15:12:22","date_gmt":"2014-04-26T15:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mugshotmonday.com\/site2\/deep-breaths-everyone\/"},"modified":"2014-04-26T15:12:22","modified_gmt":"2014-04-26T15:12:22","slug":"deep-breaths-everyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mugshotmonday.com\/site2\/deep-breaths-everyone\/","title":{"rendered":"Deep Breaths Everyone"},"content":{"rendered":"

My friend Kelly was diagnosed with\u00a0Arnold Chiari Brain Malformation<\/a>\u00a0and is scheduled for surgery May 19.<\/p>\n

So she started a tumblr (of course, right?). \u00a0<\/p>\n

She’s one of my best friends from college and there is no doubt she’s got this. She is one of the most spirited people I know and I look forward to her tumblr posts.<\/p>\n

kellyrosekwaj<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

So. I\u2019m new to this blogging deal. Started and stopped this thing at least three times. Here\u2019s the deal: I\u2019ve got issues. I\u2019ve also been blessed with many many people in my life who want to know what is going on with said issues. I get tired of telling the same story over and over. Plus, I just don\u2019t like talking about it, so this is an easier way of letting lots of people know without having to spend hours talking about it. Win.\u00a0<\/p>\n

First, some background\u2026 it started with a headache. A simple headache. Not that unusual, but it was for me because I didn\u2019t get headaches very often. The headache came and went and eventually just came and never went. Other symptoms accompanied the headaches\u2026balance issues, nausea, extreme fatigue. Fun, right? I had to listen to people tell me I just needed to \u201crelax.\u201d Super irritating. Especially when I knew something was wrong. We just needed to figure out what exactly that was. This went on for almost two years and then in January we finally got a diagnosis. My initial reaction was relief. Finally we knew what was wrong with me and it wasn\u2019t just stress. I wanted to call all those people who told me to relax and tell them to SUCK IT. For a while I was really afraid that I might be losing my mind. Like for real losing my mind. It was a relief to know that wasn\u2019t the case. I have something called Arnold Chiari Brain Malformation. Basically my brain is too big for my skull and is pushing out the back of my head. You can google it for a more scientific explanation if you\u2019d like. Jim was incredulous with this because he\u2019s teased me our whole relationship about my enormous head and now we discovered that it\u2019s still NOT BIG ENOUGH. Now for the flip side. The only cure is surgery. As in brain surgery.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is usually where I tell people to take a deep breath and repeat my mantra: It\u2019s not cancer and it\u2019s not terminal. If I choose not to get the surgery, I\u2019d be fine. I\u2019d have headaches and be miserable for the rest of my life, but I\u2019d be alive. As it stands, we\u2019re not willing to do that. I have the surgery scheduled for next month. May 19th.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I live an incredible blessed life. Normally I get suspicious when people feel as if they need to brag about their lives. I feel like they need to prove something to the rest of us, but I will make an exception just this once. I have a major kick-ass husband. He\u2019s ambitious and fun and he gets me. We have a great relationship. Not perfect, but I wouldn\u2019t have it any other way. I\u2019ve got three awesome kids. Smart as whips, cute, athletic and they make me laugh. Scream and yell, also\u2026but hey, can\u2019t have it all. I\u2019ve got friends. Holy Cow, do I have friends. All over the world I have friends. So yes. It sucks, but it\u2019s life. I like to think the Universe is fair. I lucked out pretty good in the husband,kid and friend categories (see above), so fine. I\u2019ll take one for the team.<\/p>\n

A couple things you can do for me. Don\u2019t tell me you\u2019re sorry. If you do, I will unfriend you on Facebook and the next time I see you I will pretend I don\u2019t know you. Don\u2019t give me the cliche\u2019s \u201cGod doesn\u2019t give you more than you can handle\u201d crap. Puhleez. Tell that to someone who\u2019s just lost their family, they won\u2019t believe you either. Instead tell me that I got this. Here\u2019s the thing with me. Pity and sympathy make me really uncomfortable. \u00a0I\u2019m much better with strength. And humor. And denial. I\u2019m awesome with denial. Tell me I\u2019ll be fine. Make me believe it. Tell me my kids will be ok. That my family will go back to being blessedly normal again. That I\u2019ll be able to drink again. Did I mention that I can\u2019t drink right now? Totally sucks. I\u2019ll get the damn surgery just to have a beer during homework time again. Tell me to take a deep breath. Then give me a hug.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll write more regularly to keep everyone updated. It\u2019s therapeutic for me also now that I\u2019ve finally started. So there it is. Crazy, right?\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My friend Kelly was diagnosed with\u00a0Arnold Chiari Brain Malformation\u00a0and is scheduled for surgery May 19. So she started a tumblr (of course, right?). \u00a0 She’s one of my best friends from college and there is no doubt she’s got this. She is one of the most spirited people I know and I look forward to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1793,1795,1794,1796],"class_list":["post-3699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-arnold-chiari-brain-malformation","tag-arnold-chiari","tag-arnold-chiari-malformation","tag-surgery"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mugshotmonday.com\/site2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mugshotmonday.com\/site2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mugshotmonday.com\/site2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mugshotmonday.com\/site2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mugshotmonday.com\/site2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mugshotmonday.com\/site2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3699\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mugshotmonday.com\/site2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mugshotmonday.com\/site2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mugshotmonday.com\/site2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}