January Writing Prompts

The Chronic Illness Writing Prompts are hosted each month by Sheryl at A Chronic Voice, please check out her awesome website and helpful archives.

This month prompts are:

RECUPERATING

REVERSING

DAWNING

MAPPING

DEFINING

I’ve chosen Recuperating, Mapping, and Defining as my three this month.

I’m recuperating and dealing with lingering issues with swollen salivary glands. I don’t have symptoms of a blockage or stone so I skipped the scan. There are other illnesses that can cause swelling of the glands and I hope to know more when I see a new Rheumatologist in march. I don’t want to be a hypochondriac or self diagnose but do know that Lupus can cause this problem. I’ve been tested for Lupus twice before and came back negative. This time I have many more symptoms and we’ll see how her test turns out. There are other illnesses besides Lupus so the test may surprise me.

This new doctor is promising! She takes 1-4 hours on your initial appointment, who does that? It could take a year or more to get that much face time with a doctor. I’m hopeful this is a sign of how thorough and knowledgeable they are.

I’ll let you know in March. In the meantime, I’m dealing with tender glands and lots of fatigue.

2022 is all about coming to terms with the fact that this is the new normal and how to navigate life with a chronic illness thru an ongoing Pandemic. I went two years without going to the dentist for teeth cleaning, I can’t do that moving forward. I have to keep my appointments in order to stay as healthy as possible. I won’t be going out to eat or socializing with a group of people but do plan to get out more.

I’m getting braces this year, Invsilines and I’m so excited. I had braces as a teen and thank goodness they are very different today. My teeth have changed over the past ten years and though I don’t have to get them I’m doing it for self-love.