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Showing results for tags 'Cushings Awareness Challenge'.
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Over the years, we went on several Windjammer Barefoot Cruises. We liked them because they were small, casual and were fairly easy on the wallet. They sailed around the Caribbean to a variety of islands, although they sometimes changed itineraries depending on weather, crew, whatever. One trip we were supposed to go to Saba but couldn't make port. A lot of people got off at the next port and flew home. The captains were prone to "Bedtime Stories" which were often more fiction than true but they added to the appeal of the trip. We didn't care if we missed islands or not - we were just there to sail over the waves and enjoy the ride. The last trip we took with them was about two years before I started having Cushing's problems. (You wondered how I was going to tie this together, right?) The cruise was uneventful, other than the usual mishaps like hitting docks, missing islands and so on. Until it was a particularly rough sea one day. I was walking somewhere on deck and suddenly a wave came up over the deck making it very slippery. I fell and cracked the back of my head on the curved edge of a table in the dining area. I had the next-to-the-worse headache I have ever had, the worst being after my pituitary surgery. At least after the surgery, I got some morphine. We asked several doctors later if that hit could have contributed to my Cushing's but doctors didn't want to get involved in that at all. The Windjammer folks didn't fare much better, either. In October 1998, Hurricane Mitch was responsible for the loss of the s/v Fantome (the last one we were on). All 31 crew members aboard perished; passengers and other crew members had earlier been offloaded in Belize. The story was recorded in the book The Ship and the Storm: Hurricane Mitch and the Loss of the Fantome by Jim Carrier. The ship, which was sailing in the center of the hurricane, experienced up to 50-foot (15 m) waves and over 100 mph (160 km/h) winds, causing the Fantome to founder off the coast of Honduras. "In October 1998, the majestic schooner Fantome came face-to-face with one of the most savage storms in Atlantic history. The last days of the Fantome are reconstructed in vivid and heartbreaking detail through Jim Carrier's extensive research and hundreds of personal interviews. What emerges is a story of courage, hubris, the agony of command, the weight of lives versus wealth, and the advances of science versus the terrible power and unpredictability of nature." This event was similar to the Perfect Storm in that the weather people were more interested in watching the hurricane change directions than they were in people who were dealing with its effects. I read this book and I was really moved by the plight of those crew members. I'll never know if that hit on my head contributed to my Cushing's but I have seen several people mention on the message boards that they had a traumatic head injury of some type in their earlier lives.
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- cushings awareness challenge
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Read all the blog posts here, on the right side. It would be great to share some (ALL?) on Twitter, Facebook, wherever to get the word out even further.
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This is one of the suggestions from the Cushing's Awareness Challenge post: "Give yourself, your condition, or your health focus a mascot. Is it a real person? Fictional? Mythical being? Describe them. Bonus points if you provide a visual!" Our "Official mascot" is the zebra. Our mascot In med school, student doctors are told “When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras“. According to Wikipedia: “Zebra is a medical slang term for a surprising diagnosis. Although rare diseases are, in general, surprising when they are encountered, other diseases can be surprising in a particular person and time, and so “zebra” is the broader concept. The term derives from the aphorism 'When you hear hoofbeats behind you, don’t expect to see a zebra', which was coined in a slightly modified form in the late 1940s by Dr. Theodore Woodward, a former professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. Since horses are the most commonly encountered hoofed animal and zebras are very rare, logically you could confidently guess that the animal making the hoofbeats is probably a horse. A zebra cup my DH bought me By 1960, the aphorism was widely known in medical circles.” Why? Because those of us who DO have a rare disorder know from personal experience what it feels like to be dismissed by a doctor or in many cases, multiple doctors. Many physicians have completely lost the ability to even imagine that zebras may exist! Cushing's is too rare - you couldn't possible have that. Well... rare means some people get it. Why couldn't it be me? Although one of my signature images has a zebra, many have rainbows or butterflies in them so I guess that I consider those my own personal mascots. I posted this in 2010 in 40 Days of Thankfulness: Days Twenty-Two through Thirty I have a special affinity for rainbows. To me, a rainbow is a sign that things are going to be ok. Years ago, our little family was in Florida. I felt guilty about going because my dad was terminally ill with his second bout of colon cancer. I was worried about him and said a little prayer for him. I was lying on the beach while DH and our son were in the ocean and I looked up and saw a rainbow. It was a perfectly clear, sunny afternoon. I even called the people out of the water, in case it was something I wanted to see that didn't really exist. They saw it, too. Where in the world did that rainbow come from, if it wasn't a sign that everything would be ok? Butterflies are something else again. I like them because I would like to think that my life has evolved like a butterfly's, from something ugly and unattractive to something a big easier on the eye. My Cushie self was the caterpillar, post-op is more butterfly-ish, if not in looks, in good deeds. From July, 2008 For as long as I can remember, I've loved butterflies for their beauty and what they stood for. I've always wanted to shed my cocoon and become someone else, someone beautiful, graceful. One of my first memories as a kid was knocking on the back door of my house and when my mom answered, I'd pretend to somehow be an orphan, looking for some kind person to take me in. And I would try to be that different child, with new habits, in the hopes that my parents would somehow think better of me, love me more as this poor homeless kid than they did as their own. The butterfly was trying to emerge but it never got too far. Somehow, I would slip into my original self and be a bother to my parents. Hope springs eternal, though!
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The Cushing’s Awareness Challenge is almost upon us again! Do you blog? Want to get started? Since April 8 is Cushing’s Awareness Day, several people got their heads together to create the Fifth Annual Cushing’s Awareness Blogging Challenge. All you have to do is blog about something Cushing’s related for the 30 days of April. There will also be a logo for your blog to show show you’ve participated. Please let me know the URL to your blog in the comments area of this post, on the Facebook page, in one of the Facebook Groups, on the message boards or an email and I will list it on CushieBloggers ( http://cushie-blogger.blogspot.com/) The more people who participate, the more the word will get out about Cushing’s. Suggested topics – or add your own! In what ways have Cushing’s made you a better person? What have you learned about the medical community since you have become sick? If you had one chance to speak to an endocrinologist association meeting, what would you tell them about Cushing’s patients? What would you tell the friends and family of another Cushing’s patient in order to garner more emotional support for your friend? challenge with Cushing’s? How have you overcome challenges? Stuff like that. I have Cushing’s Disease….(personal synopsis) How I found out I have Cushing’s What is Cushing’s Disease/Syndrome? (Personal variation, i.e. adrenal or pituitary or ectopic, etc.) My challenges with Cushing’s Overcoming challenges with Cushing’s (could include any challenges) If I could speak to an endocrinologist organization, I would tell them…. What would I tell others trying to be diagnosed? What would I tell families of those who are sick with Cushing’s? Treatments I’ve gone through to try to be cured/treatments I may have to go through to be cured. What will happen if I’m not cured? I write about my health because… 10 Things I Couldn’t Live Without. My Dream Day. What I learned the hard way Miracle Cure. (Write a news-style article on a miracle cure. What’s the cure? How do you get the cure? Be sure to include a disclaimer) Give yourself, your condition, or your health focus a mascot. Is it a real person? Fictional? Mythical being? Describe them. Bonus points if you provide a visual! 5 Challenges & 5 Small Victories. The First Time I… Make a word cloud or tree with a list of words that come to mind when you think about your blog, health, or interests. Use a thesaurus to make it branch more. How much money have you spent on Cushing’s, or, How did Cushing’s impact your life financially? Why do you think Cushing’s may not be as rare as doctors believe? What is your theory about what causes Cushing’s? How has Cushing’s altered the trajectory of your life? What would you have done? Who would you have been What three things has Cushing’s stolen from you? What do you miss the most? What can you do in your Cushing’s life to still achieve any of those goals? What new goals did Cushing’s bring to you? How do you cope? What do you do to improve your quality of life as you fight Cushing’s? How Cushing’s affects children and their families Your thoughts…?
