“Adulting” with Lyme Disease

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This summer I was supposed to start “adulting.”

You know, after you graduate from college, and September rolls around and it is officially time to start doing “grown up things,” like going to a 9–5 job, paying rent, and squeezing into the subway to make it home on the 6 PM train.

This past summer I was supposed to start working at a fancy high-powered NYC media job. Truthfully, it was a job that many would kill for. Instead, I settled for killing my Lyme disease.

I remember my allegedly first day at that NYC media job as if it was yesterday. That day, I hooked myself into my IV and decided to settle into the next nine months of some serious spoonie life.

I didn’t put on my beautiful new dress I had gotten from a stylish boutique in Newport. Rather, I put on my cozy clothes and grabbed my blanket.

ADULTING WITH SPOONIE STYLE

I didn’t stop at Starbucks on my way to the subway. Rather, I made a cup of ginger green tea to try to mask the cat pee taste that the Clindamycin IV had left in my mouth (as usual). 

I didn’t show up early to impress my new boss. Rather, I put on a Netflix show and fell back to sleep just 1 hour after waking up.

I didn’t put in my 9 hours and work my ass off. Rather, I took a 2-hour nap and didn’t start working until 8 PM in my bed.

I didn’t go out for after dinner drinks with my new colleagues. Rather, I hooked up to my second IV of the day.

As I watched all of my college classmates start “adulting”, I was okay with my 9 month PICC line treatment plan.

I can’t do any of those things until I get better. I need to take the time to listen to my body, and fight like hell, to rid myself of this disease. I know that there’s not a 100% probability that the antibiotic treatment will completely eradicate my Lyme. However, there is still some probability that it will. So I am giving myself the best chance I have in doing so now. 

Screen Shot 2016-11-25 at 1.24.12 AM.pngMoreover, just because I am not “adulting”, this doesn’t mean I am not working on being an adult. I started a business at 19 and made it into MassChallenge. I have paid my own medical bills and driven myself to doctors appointments two states away.

And today’s accomplishment…. I took a shower by myself and managed not to get my PICC line wet. In my mind, these are all “adulting,” just Spoonie Style 😉

ADULTING

Adulting (v): to do grown up things and hold responsibilities such as, a 9-5 job, a mortgage/rent, a car payment, or anything else that makes one think of grown-ups.

Used in a sentence: Jane is adulting quite well today as she is on time for work promptly at 8 am and appears well groomed.

-Urban Dictionary

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