Imaginative magic…..

I’m so pleased to share a favorite blog from a friend and fellow chronic pain warrior, “Pain in the Beck.” In the below post, she did me the honor of writing about how we first “met” online ♡ To me, she has been a butterfly emerging from the shell that illness couldn’t hold her in.
Follow PainintheBeck blog as she writes about her life in NYC as an artist, a student, a chronic illness warrior, and shares her adventures with family. You will be rooting for her, and you’ll be inspired to root more and more for yourself because of her.

(Read article in full at the link below.) Thank you for reading and following.

Every day is is Hope Day here at a Body of Hope blog, but every Wednesday is #HopeDay all around the web. Spread that good stuff around 🙂

painintheBECK

Hello friends!

I’ve been busy these last few days, trying to help my daughter get ready for her high school prom. Although I still can’t believe that she’s done with this chapter, I’m very excited to see what’s next.

We attended her final high school concert last Friday evening. It was fantastic. The students performed music, danced, sang. It was a fun night. And I got some costume ideas out of it. The best, however, was seeing our gal, on the stage singing “Rebel Rebel,” with her class band as backup. This, while playing the electric ukulele.

My husband has been a musician for most of his life. Our daughter, however, never played an instrument until high school. In a mandatory freshman class, she started with guitar. The expression, “like a fish to water” comes to mind. After exceeding the complexity of the class, she taught herself advanced skills…

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The Honest Truth

Poet Kristen Braatz Eiden shared this with us in honor of the passing of her beloved friend, and fellow poet Mary Jane Gonzales. Thank you, Kristen for sharing your beautiful and poignant poem. When I read your heartfelt poetry, it will always remind me of Jane ❤

Diary of a Clay Pot

The honest truth…
There are many things I would love to share
But wonder if you would even care

The honest truth…
We all have crosses to bare
So many burdens of past failures made aware

The honest truth…
Some things you would not want to hear
So many things that need to be made clear

The honest truth…
The pain is for real
But to many its seems unreal

The honest truth…
We all stumble and fall
We all need someone to catch our fall

The honest truth…
When we begin to realize there is no perfect here on earth
We begin to see life at its true worth

The honest truth…
Some of my worst days have become my best
There is truly hope in the unrest

The honest truth…
I would not be where I am today
Without every pain and heartache of yesterday

The honest truth…

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Saying Goodbye to Mary Jane Gonzales

Mary Jane Gonzales, one of the greatest voices for CRPS/RSD and chronic pain awareness has passed away after battling Complex Regional Pain Syndrome for over 25 years.

She passed away on January 21st, 2018 from complications of chronic illness. She turned 70 this past year.

Jane authored several inspiring books (linked below), her Facebook page Poetic Hearts remains open, and her blog, http://LifethroughPoetryandProse.simplesite.com has an abundance of Jane’s articles on Chronic Pain. You can leave a comment on her blog or her Facebook Timeline for her family if you’d like.

She was a poet, an artist, mother, grandmother, and one of my closest friends.
I’m not exactly sure how to proceed, or how to honor her memory properly yet.
But, I want to invite you, if you have a personal story about Jane, a memory, artwork, a poem, etc. Please email it to me at abodyofhope@mail.com
I need your help. I’m organizing a month-long tribute to share her life, and your messages will be at the center.
Maximum 800 words, no minimum

She will be missed by so many. But she left so much behind for us all to remember her and what she stood for.

If you have followed this blog, you’ll already be familiar with Mary Jane Gonzales. Read more about her and her books below, an article I wrote about her 2 years ago as a surprise for her when her 10th book was released.

She touched so many lives, and she will be missed by all of us.

She is no longer suffering. She is finally free. She’s walking in the sunshine with her best friend and Savior, Jesus. I look forward to telling you more about her and her life in the coming days. Take heart knowing that she is where her soul has longed to be. She ran the race.

DisabledandDivorced

 

When it feels like life is breaking apart around us, we must go out of our way to pour light and wisdom back into our lives. I wanted to share the books of Mary Jane Gonzales here because self care during a separation or divorce is so crucial! This author, poet, mother, and chronic pain survivor knows a thing or two about caring for her own body and spirit. 

She just released her 10th book, A Voice Unheard, which is unlike any of her previous books. Her compassion and inside knowledge for the current issues those with chronic illness live with silently, makes this book a must read for patients, family of anyone diagnosed with a chronic disease, and health care professionals.

Gonzales utilizes the patient advocacy work she has done over the years to speak out on behalf of those marginalized on account of being disabled or chronically ill…

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Flow Like Water: Reflections on CRPS / RSD year 2- Guestpost by Rikki Smith

“Flow Like Water” is Rikki’s year 2 reflection of life with CRPS/RSD. Please read her brand new guest piece, published today.

aBodyofHope

I never thought a car wreck that did damage to my elbow

would stop me from walking an entire year later.  I never thought you could get a disease from a car wreck.

I never thought I would have to depend on anyone else
to get me through tough times in my life.

I never thought I would face an uncertain future
without the ability to answer the tough questions.

I am by nature a very opinionated, strong minded, determined and focused individual. Having my life turned upside down by an unforeseen event is not in anyone’s plans of course, but, the thought of it was always something I thought I knew exactly how I’d handle as a ‘strong and independent woman’. Little did I know that my ultimate undoing would also be the one thing that allowed me to become more whole as a person.

Looking back on…

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Broken Things Can Be Fixed, First year with CRPS by Rikki Lynn

“Broken Things Can be Fixed” is Rikki’s year one guest post- one of our very first guest contributions. Today she’s sharing her year 4 thoughts on her CRPS journey with us.

aBodyofHope

Being Broken, I roll over and apologize yet again. I am sorry I am broken. I mean it when I say it.

Agonizing pain makes me the unbearable one. I moan, I cry, I writhe in pain. That isn’t what really hurts. The real pain comes when it wakes you up. When this beast reaches past me and begins its assault on you. It strikes again in the middle of the day when a young boy wants to play and have fun, but he can’t ask because he loves me and he sees that I am in agony. So he suffers quietly trying not to be hurt that he can’t ask. Always the thoughtful loving child he would not want me to suffer. I don’t want him to suffer and feel alone even in my presence. This disease spreads the pain far beyond my arm, my leg, etc…

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I Fell Apart: It was Beautiful

First published on a blog called “no one gets flowers for chronic pain”, she posted this just after brain surgery. Please click the link below to read in its entirety.

“Most of us are going to face tragedy in our lives and we have to go through the grieving process of those tragedies before we are able to reap the benefits of loss or sickness. We do not see the light at the end of the tunnel most of the time because the tunnel is the light.”

noonegetsflowersforchronicpain

…”and then I fell apart, and it was the most beautiful moment ever, because right then, I realized that I could put the pieces back together the way I wanted them to be.”

Unknown

I recently read an article from http://www.thedailygood.com that explained the changes in people who have faced extreme trauma.  Most would think the article would be quite depressing as people who are faced with extreme trauma such as a death of a  loved one or in my case brain surgery/chronic pain, the changes in ones self  would be mostly negative and in my case/my trauma the affects were extremely negatively until I totally and completely fell apart and that was the most beautiful moment of my life because it was the moment I began to live.

If I heard that a person had a near death bike accident that resulted in brain surgery, I would think that…

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Grieving with a Chronic Illness

This 20-year-old blogger and survivor of multiple chronic illnesses describes her grief process. You may be surprised to see that even on a somber topic like mourning loss of health, she writes from an outlook of gratitude; below she shares why she chooses her approach.
If you like this post, check out the article she wrote last week- it will give you a boost of inspiration!

Life with an illness

With a chronic illness, there is no cure. It is all about treating the symptoms and learning to live life with it. It’s like an enemy you can’t get rid of. Its hard to cope with at times. For me, I was working, in college, and training for a half marathon, and one day it hit me like a truck. Within 2 days I was in the hospital. So going from constantly on the go and enjoying a normal 20 year old life to daily appointments, constantly miserable, and not being able to take care of myself alone. Its normal to have grieving stages while being sick, here are ways I grieve with having several chronic illnesses.

• The anger phase.

Its okay to be angry, I completely understand this phase. I’ve lost a lot like my job, a lot of people in my life disappeared, and I can’t do a…

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10 insights on life: Awareness through ME

Today, May 12th is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/SEID) and Fibromyalgia World Awareness Day. This blogger @ Tips for ME discusses the mysteries of ME/CFS. Particularly interesting to me is the “Canary” or sensitivities aspect, which after 5 years, my doctors still haven’t been able to understand why I can hardly tolerate my own voice, sounds, lights, or smells. Chemical sensitivities alone can be such a confining aspect of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME for so many CFS/ME sufferers.

Thank you for checking out a few of these enlightening ME/CFS facts, life wisdom, and helping raise awareness today!

Tips for ME

This ’10 insights’ #May12BlogBomb post is a perspective from the awareness of having ME, looking outwards at the world through the lens of ME. I believe that people with ME (pwme) have useful observations to contribute to society, perhaps a little akin to Old Testament minor prophets. This can be compared to the voices of other marginalised people groups, such as the queer community, the Equal Rights Movement and feminism. Each marginalised group gains different insights on life, related to their specific barriers to inclusion.

Table of Contents

Background Information

1) Dignity is Vital

2) Anything Can Happen at Any Time

3) Listen to Canaries

4) A Rose by a Different Name Does Smell Sweeter

5) The Authority on Your Body is You

6) Access to Health Requires Self-Reliance

7) Very Little Knowledge is Truly Known

8) Learn your Limits and Take a Step Back

9) Money Enables Quality of Life

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Careful what you wish for

March is Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month. Since many chronic illness symptoms can mimic MS, and since MS is completely different in everyone with the disease, the people suffering can get lost behind the vague name. This courageous young woman, blogger, and MS survivor shares about the “unforgettable” week of her diagnosis. She puts a very clear face on such a foggy disorder- thank you for reading for better understanding.

escharae

12 years ago today, October 20th 2002, I woke up, went to the kitchen in my pajamas, Sunday morning, made breakfast, went to the living room while eating it, flipped the pages of a magazine, got up again, put the mug and plate in the kitchen sink – and then everything went black. I have a very faint recollection of feeling dizzy and nauseous but I don’t remember any more. I know I walked three or four steps because I was found on the floor by the kitchen door. On the wall there was a mark my fingers made possibly when I was trying to hold on to it not to fall. But I don’t remember. No one knows how much time I was out. My left knee and arm were bruised, and so was my head.

The story they told me was that my grandfather, who was living with…

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Seeing Possibility

 

“…I promise that where you are headed is better than where you’ve been. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not the next day, but eventually daylight is coming.”
I love this blogger, and this woman. I hope you will take the time to read this to the end. She is a light-bringer wherever she goes.

Finding Out Fibro

Making Some Kind of Peace With My Pain

During my descent into illness, all I could see was what was being taken from me. When chronic illness kept routinely shaking up my life in new and horrible ways, I started to believe that there was nothing to look forward to, and the injustice of going from perfectly fine to not fine at all was unforgivable. It’s natural to feel that way, everyone grieves uniquely, and we lose a lot in the transition from well to sick. Grieving is permitted, encouraged, and part of the process of regaining strength. It’s not pleasant to be in that place, where all roads lead away from your dreams, all days blend together because of the pain, and because of all the sadness, fogginess, stress, and panic of becoming suddenly or gradually disabled. You may in that time lose track of who you are for a second, or maybe for a…

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