NOISE: Embody

Reach Out

Earlier this week I came across a blog that really spoke to me. This woman, Dana, has several rare diseases, and she blogs about her numerous surgeries and piling medical bills with a snarky positivity that I recognized instantly as the coping mechanism of a person who has not only been to hell and back, they went a few times, and can now draw you a detailed map. Her blog is actually a fundraiser in disguise, with options to donate money, recipes, or even the advertisement of her mission by blogging about her blog (guilty!), all with a final total goal to help her pay off her medical debt.

Interestingly enough, I recently began conversing with some other tranplant patients that share my kidney doctors at St. Mary's in Grand Rapids, and it was strangely soothing to trade experiences with them, although I was a little suprised to find myself eager to recap my difficult transplant recovery to people I had not ever met in person. What I was reminded of the most was how it can be so easy to wrap yourself up inside of your struggles, and shut everyone else out, somehow tricking yourself into believing that you can and should do it on your own.

Whatever it takes, reach out. Be it a snarky blog or an email list, or a phone call or a hug- just connect.

Spring-Time Action

Spring is here, Summer is right around the corner, and that means lots of great weather to get outside in. I'm entering Week #9 of my triathlon training, and many friends and family have inquired regarding my sanity for entering such an event for fun. But you don't have to do a triathlon to get out and get fit.

Now In 3-D!!

Have you ever seen a 3-D movie? The last one I saw was about the Hubble Space Telescope, and it was absolutely one of the most stunning things I've ever seen in my life. The only part about it that kinda sucked was that I had to wear those big, stupid 3-D glasses- talk about ridiculous! Too bad there wasn't a way for my eyeballs to be altered so I could see 3-D movies without the stupid goggles...Hey, wait a minute- there IS!

NPR ran a story earlier this week about a (completely real, I promise) surgical procedure that is currently in the 'experimental' stages and does exactly that: alters a person's vision so they can see movies in 3-D naturally- without the glasses. I guess that's pretty cool- except that after receiving the procedure, you have blurry vision the rest of the time that you're not sitting inside of a cineplex. Bummer. Ah, well, I guess it's a small price to pay to feel like you're IN Avatar.