I'm fairly certain that anyone can relate to what I'm about to say: stress makes me sick! Whether you're otherwise healthy or have a chronic illness, stress wears you down and makes you feel bad. I've had a lot of stressful things happen this year, especially the past few months. First let me point out that after this school year I'm apart of the "real world" and the looming threat of not being able to handle it is hanging over all the other stressors I'm about to talk about.
My family is going through a hard time. I live at home with my mom because I live pretty close to my college and it saves me money, on top of the added bonus of having people to help me when I'm feeling bad. At the beginning of this year my mom and her husband separated. I love my mom more than anything, so seeing her dealing with everything has been hard at times. Add in having two teenage brothers who are, well, teenage boys and our house can be really crazy sometimes! My adorable 8 year old brother has been thrown in the mix and I know what he's going through because I dealt with it when I was his age. What I'm trying to say is, my home has been stressful this year. Things are starting to settle down though.
Tied into this divorce is financial unpleasantness. There isn't a lot of income in our house. I took on a summer job with two crazy little kids that proved to be WAY too much for my body to handle. So halfway through the summer I gave up that job. The money made is all I have right now, because my schools financial aid department is taking a really long time processing my information (because of the divorce). Well who needs an extra $700-1000 right away when they just live at home right? Me, because in the mix of all these other things my cars transmission decided to die. That sounds like a ton of fun doesn't it?
If you thought that there couldn't be anymore annoyances in my life right now you were wrong. I'm also about to lose my insurance. I don't work, and my mom is trying to find a job. Once the divorce is final I'll have nothing to cover my medications. I've been trying to apply for insurance, but of course the website for that hasn't been working in 4 days. The thought of not being able to see my doctor if I need to, or afford my meds is really frightening.
Through all of this I've come to one conclusion: Being an adult is highly overrated lol I do not have the strength and energy to deal with anymore at the moment. I haven't dealt with unpaid medical bills yet because I just want to throw everything under the rug and pretend it's not there until I get the bigger problems of money, car, tuition, and insurance figured out.
But in the midst of all these things that are stressing me out (and making me flare up) I've found out I get to be a part of PARTNERS (Patients, Advocates and Rheumatology Teams Network for Research and Service) which will allow me to be a voice for patients in research. I'm more than thrilled to be able to do this. I get to help give a voice to families living with pediatric rheumatic disease, including childhood lupus.
My family is going through a hard time. I live at home with my mom because I live pretty close to my college and it saves me money, on top of the added bonus of having people to help me when I'm feeling bad. At the beginning of this year my mom and her husband separated. I love my mom more than anything, so seeing her dealing with everything has been hard at times. Add in having two teenage brothers who are, well, teenage boys and our house can be really crazy sometimes! My adorable 8 year old brother has been thrown in the mix and I know what he's going through because I dealt with it when I was his age. What I'm trying to say is, my home has been stressful this year. Things are starting to settle down though.
Tied into this divorce is financial unpleasantness. There isn't a lot of income in our house. I took on a summer job with two crazy little kids that proved to be WAY too much for my body to handle. So halfway through the summer I gave up that job. The money made is all I have right now, because my schools financial aid department is taking a really long time processing my information (because of the divorce). Well who needs an extra $700-1000 right away when they just live at home right? Me, because in the mix of all these other things my cars transmission decided to die. That sounds like a ton of fun doesn't it?
If you thought that there couldn't be anymore annoyances in my life right now you were wrong. I'm also about to lose my insurance. I don't work, and my mom is trying to find a job. Once the divorce is final I'll have nothing to cover my medications. I've been trying to apply for insurance, but of course the website for that hasn't been working in 4 days. The thought of not being able to see my doctor if I need to, or afford my meds is really frightening.
Through all of this I've come to one conclusion: Being an adult is highly overrated lol I do not have the strength and energy to deal with anymore at the moment. I haven't dealt with unpaid medical bills yet because I just want to throw everything under the rug and pretend it's not there until I get the bigger problems of money, car, tuition, and insurance figured out.
But in the midst of all these things that are stressing me out (and making me flare up) I've found out I get to be a part of PARTNERS (Patients, Advocates and Rheumatology Teams Network for Research and Service) which will allow me to be a voice for patients in research. I'm more than thrilled to be able to do this. I get to help give a voice to families living with pediatric rheumatic disease, including childhood lupus.