Senior year, or as I was going to call it, “Year of Michaela”. After all I’ve contended with in the past, I figure I finally deserve a good year. And it was really setting up to be a great year too. I’m in so many amazing classes. Newspaper production (!!!!!), AP Psychology (isn’t that ironic considering my rare disease was first diagnosed as a somatic disorder), Sports Marketing, Photography, Current Issues, and so many other interesting classes made me so excited for this year. I was determined to be okay this year, and to be able to go every single day.
Then we reached the 3rd day of school. LOL. The THIRD. It’s almost laughable at how quickly it all unraveled. On the third day of school, my hip subluxed pretty bad. So I limped my way to the clinic and missed the second half of the third day.
Then that night, I went to get my hip set. It was pretty tough to get it in, but in it went. So the morning of the fourth day, I took my pain medication and went in to school. I must remember to not take those on such an empty stomach. When I got to school, I threw up, and yes, had to be sent home – again!
So I missed the second half of the fourth day.
Days 5 and 6 I went in and made up all of my work, and I was actually in a good place. I convinced myself that last week was a fluke and that I was going to be okay. Wrong!
Day 6, I come home with my hip out again. And it’s extremely painful. So I miss Day 7.
Because my hips are so loose right now, I have to be very very careful of how I sit and I can’t sit for very long. So now I can only do half days for Days 8 and 9. I have a neurosurgeon appointment that I have to travel for. (Unfortunately many of us EDSers have to travel to get experienced doctors who understand EDS). So there goes Days 10 and 11. So now here I am, laying in bed with both hips dislocated, hemming and hawing over whether or not I should change my schedule to some online courses. For now, the answer is no. I have worked so hard for the last five years to stay in public schools and have some kind of normal. But that may change if my health stays the way it does. You never know where the road may lead, and us chronic people know that more than anybody.
I guess that the main lesson to be learned here is that if you live with a chronic illness, you live day for day. And things definitely don’t always go as planned. Planning is a luxury. But there’s really nothing that you can do about it. Sure, there are more days than not that I curse my body and my life, but there are other days that I count my blessings that I live where I do and I’m able to get the support that I receive. I’m not going to let this upset me too much. Sure, it’s disheartening. But I am stronger than my illness. I am stronger than my body. I am going to kick butt this year, along with so many of the other kids with chronic illnesses who work hard every day. We’re all going through something unique, and in the end I know we’ll come out stronger and it will make us all better people.
That’s my perspective on this situation, and it makes all the difference for me. So, my first few weeks of school didn’t go as planned, but I do know that I’m going to have a great year, I just might have to be creative about how.
How is your school year going so far?
