[fauxgypsy]

I just wanted to perhaps give hope to those who are undergoing treatment. A little over three years since my diagnosis, and all the stuff that followed I really feel that I am very close to my old normal. I know that many of you have gone through so much more than I have but I still hope this gives you some encouragement. I may be a little tireder but I am also a little older. My arm still bothers me if I overdo some activities. I have gone from being self employed as a faux finisher and sometime muralist to using my degree to teach biology at a community college, I garden, I paint when I have time. I may not be the energizer bunny that I once was but I feel much closer to being there than I ever thought I would.
What I have found that works for me, is to move forward. I do miss my business, I am enjoying teaching, although I may go back at some point to being self-employed. If I had listened to some of the advice I had gotten about about what I should or shouldn't do I would not be where I am. Listen to your body. Do what you can do and with any luck, you can start to do more and more. I still hurt. I still have problems with my arm, although it is so much better now. My hips hurt. But I try to remember what a friend who deals with a chronic disease told me. She said that she finally decided to do what she could because she was going to hurt wherever she was.
I have found that staying busy and involved keeps me from focusing so much on what is wrong. What I wish for all of you is to be able to move forward and focus on what is positive even while you deal with all the negative. I know that we all have a place in the back of our mind where all the "what if's" live. But we can't stay there or we will lose the life we have now.