Dearest readers, they say the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Well…mine went way awry. Like *way* awry. Three months ago, I had no plans to tear a muscle in my left arm (exercising, no less – oh, the irony). No plans to be given a pain medication that screwed my body/system so badly, I learned what the inside of an ambulance looked like and spent the better part of a day in the ER. No plans for it to lead to bloodwork that discovered some not so nice things were going on inside me.

In hindsight, it’s all been a good thing. I’ve been forced to spend the last few months focusing 100% on working on *me* and I went off the grid to do that. Every time I’d go for bloodwork (I’m convinced the medical community is filled with vampires), I’d get compliments the tattoo on my left arm, which reminded me I had it inked there as a constant reminder. But sometimes, you need to hear it from others in order to hammer it in a few times. And in my thick skull…yeah, so. A team of people (my doctor, a physical therapist and a nutritionist) are helping me get my body on the right track. I have new norms I’m still getting used to, and adjustments I’ve still to make. And I am making them…slowly. Some of that is realizing that while I *can* do it all, that doesn’t mean that I *have* to. My ultimate goal is to get off the medication cocktails I have to take when I wake up and before I go to bed. They are my stepping stone, they will NOT earn a permanent place in my life.

So, dear readers, all I ask of you is that you understand that this long, winding path I’m on is my focus for the time being.