The year was 2015. This picture was taken at the Planet Fitness in Rochester, MN. I was in town for my first consult at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota because my Honolulu based GI wanted to send me to the BEST gastroenterology and GI surgery hospital in the nation when after 10 years of severe, refractory #ulcerativecolitis,
I was left with no medical options and ZERO medical relief in Honolulu. My Oahu Docs just didn’t know what to do with me.It was a long time coming.
A reality I never expected but eventually learned to welcome after a decade of spending all of my mental energy AND tens of thousands of dollars on holistic alternatives that just never got me anywhere but more in debt.
Now, I advocate for others in a similar situation.
I volunteer my time to speak with others with #IBD and those like me, with an #ostomy setting an example that though my life is different, my life didn’t stop. Nor did my disease nor my colon removal surgery stop me from living life.
I do all the things I did prior, just a little different. And different is ok! THAT is what makes life special and beautiful.
How boring would life be if we were all robots on auto pilot?
THIS is what sets me a part from many of the coaches out there. No, having an ostomy doesn’t mean I only cater to IBD clients. As a matter of fact, I don’t have any current IBD clients right now. All of this simply means that along my journey, I’ve had to make choices, take chances and welcome change; no matter how messy, uncomfortable and scary the change was.
And as your friend and one of your biggest supporters, I assist my clients with the same – to make reasonable choices; to take sometimes scary, but necessary chances and to roll with the changes as they come. Change is beautiful!
What’s been the biggest Choice, Chance or Change you have made or taken thus far?
