“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” –Confucius

I have a yellowy purple bruise on the bend of my left arm and a fresh red and purple one blooming on my right arm. I am sitting in a Panera typing because the second I set foot in my house, I am going to be asleep.

I had the second blood draw in a week today. The slick phlebotomist in vintage shell toes, wearing some serious cologne took it upon himself to root around in my arm with a needle for a good long time saying things like, “I’ll get it….” and “You have really little veins and they are in there DEEP.” I appreciate his dedication to dressing up for work, but the rest was kind of nauseating.

I have been feeling badly. Such stomach upset. So much aching. I feel like my blood is racing, pounding in my veins, but pressure cuff after pressure cuff says I am within normal range. I have been so foggy that I had to create a mnemonic device to remember the four things I wanted to bring up with my rheumatologist yesterday. Digestion, Inflamed (blood), Gut bacteria, Adema(legs). It happens to be DIGA, which my high school Spanish classes taught me is “listen” in Spanish.

She did listen, which brings us to back to back blood work. I am back in six weeks after a venous doppler and a trip to a gastroenterologist. I am tired just thinking about scheduling and showing up for three more doctor’s appointments in six weeks (in addition to the regular batch).

So, friends, what do you do to power through and keep going? Do you have ways to psych yourself up enough to fight through the fatigue and aching? Please share. We can all use a little encouragement and some new strategies!