them sparkles

The year 2018 has not been kind to me. I was just discharged from the hospital for the third time since April. Another 17 days. My health has not been great and each time I think things are looking up, something else happens. I'm finding it harder to keep on the positive side of things with all of this going on. The progress I made getting my strength back after my last admission feels like it was for nothing. I am weak again, fighting to just get up a few stairs. I definitely cry more, frustrated by all of it. Through everything though, I've been lucky to see how much I'm loved and cared for. The people who have taken time out of their busy lives to check in on me, text, send a kind note, visit, call... It really makes it feel like I'm not going through this alone. There are few things more lonely than being stuck in a hospital for days on end, by yourself, being poked and prodded and checked on throughout the day by strangers. Those visits, calls and texts really do...

Not too long ago, I put on make-up for the first time in weeks. It doesn’t sound like a big deal but I hadn’t done it in so long that it was almost foreign. My hands were shaky. I had lost a lot of strength while in hospital so it was a tiny bit more difficult that usual. A couple of days after I was discharged from the hospital, I drove my car for the first time in almost a month. I needed to go to some medical appointments during the week while everyone else was working so I needed to take myself there. I had terribly anxiety about it. I drive a manual transmission and having lost the strength in my legs made driving difficult too. It felt like I was driving a car for one of the first times after receiving your license. The other day, I was crossing a busy road and to try and keep the traffic from waiting on me, I thought I would quickly jog across. My legs almost gave out and I almost fell. I’m still having issues walking up the stairs, opening bottles or jars an...