FINDING MY WAY BACK AGAIN
To the most remarkable community I've had the pleasure of getting to know- thank you for all your thoughts and prayers over the last several days while I've been in the hospital. They WORKED, and I am home, happy, and on my way to feeling like myself again.
These past couple of weeks have been both physically and emotionally trying for me. Sixteen days ago, I started out with the flu, and about five days into the virus, my body basically shut down from too much stress. From there, I went to the local hospital for an overnight stay, came home, and fought the flu with the amazing help from my parents and nurses. At the same time, however, I was experiencing difficulty keeping any food down.
I went a full week without eating. Any morsel of food made my stomach violently ill, and I was on a very fast downward spiral. After using what little strength I had to fight the flu, I had grown incredibly weak incredibly fast being unable to get food into my system. That was when we decided to head to Boston Children's Hospital.
I can't say this was an easy hospital trip for me, and for the first time in a long time, I felt helpless. I was scared, I was hungry and I felt as though I was slipping away. As I lied still for days hooked up to machines and with a tube in my stomach, I questioned whether or not I had the ability to bounce back. I used to be so strong. I was always the girl who persevered and triumphed in my trials and tribulations. Where was she? What had happened to her? Then, one day underneath the fluorescent lights, it all came flooding back to me...It takes being weak to understand what it means to be strong. It takes some of the most trying times to realize that you still have the tenacity to fight. It takes time, it takes patience, and it takes faith. But, it will always get better.
Thank you again for all your sweet, funny, and heartfelt messages and gifts that carried me through this time. Thank you to the most remarkable ICU staff at Boston Children's Hospital for proving, once again, that I am incredibly fortunate to have some of the best doctors in the world right in my backyard. Thank you to my parents who fought just as hard alongside me and never left my side. I couldn't have done it without any of you.
