Finding Support While Staying Home

The internet can be a very bad place to go when looking for emotional uplifts. Its full of trolls, 'fake' news, politicians, natural and human made disasters, and all sorts of other wonderful stuff that I prefer not to know about.

If you post on social media about feeling like crap you get all sorts of 'positive' replies: "I'll pray for you" (thanks but not my thing), or "you need to switch to a raw vegan diet and drink a cup of apple cider vinegar three times a day" (thanks but I eat pretty healthy and am capable of selecting my own diet), or there is a 'natural doctor in Timbuktu who cured me of my ailment and I am sure he will cure you too if you send me $1,000,000 to connect  you with him" (um, no way.). It may make you feel better but I have found I need to be a bit more selective about what I post and where.

Support groups can be wonderful things. But with a chronic illness and you are having a bad day, you aren't going to make it to a meeting. That would mean getting out of bed, putting on clothes, and getting in the car which often is a bit much.

So online it is to find support. One site I have found to be very helpful with chronic illnesses is The Mighty. It covers all sorts of fun ailments like chronic illness, cancer, disability, rare disease and another 600+ ailments and allows you submit stories, read other people's stories and its full of normal people who feel the humor and sadness of coping with ailments all the time. If you are in the chronic illness category, I highly recommend it.

If you are looking for cancer support, I suggest you go over to my breast cancer blog and look over there. But whatever you have do not skip your emotional needs. They are just as important as your physical ones.

My Life Has Changed

I used to blog all the time at Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog. I started it in 2007 when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. It helped me retain my sanity by blogging through cancer treatment - I got to vent about the ups and downs of cancer treatment.

Since then, my body has completely rebelled and I have accumulated multiple chronic ailments. I live a completely different life than I did 11 years ago. Now I feel like I just go to the doctor and the gym to help retain whatever health pieces I may still have.

I decided I need a new blog to write about my life because breast cancer is no longer the focus of my life. For the last few years I have felt I was straying from breast cancer, which was the title of my blog, when I did not write about life with breast cancer. Yes, I survived lived through breast cancer but its no the focus of my life so here I am at a new blog - Life with Chronic Illnesses - because that's what my life is all about.