3 Year Kidneyversary // Graduation // Life Update

Hello and welcome back!

Thank you for being patient as I navigated the last few months of finishing up my bachelor's degree! (it is so cool to finally be able to say that)!!

This past week was my graduation, kidneyversary, and a celebration like no other! Please feel free to text me at the link below and send me your Podcast topic requests! I'd love to hear from you!!

IG: @thechronicallyilldiaries
YT: @thechronicallyilldiaries

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Hello, guys, and welcome back to the podcast. It has been a minute, and on top of everything, happy World Lupus Day, Happy Mother's Day. It is May 10th, 2026, and I know it's been a minute. And I'm also so sorry if this audio sounds horrible. Um, but my mic broke. But I also just wanted to be able to film something today. And so here we are. So I feel like there is a lot that needs to be updated on. A lot has happened in this past year, um, since celebrating my second kenniversary to now my third, which is so crazy. It's been three years since I've had my transplant. That doesn't even seem real. That's like literally almost like longer than I was on dialysis at this point, which it felt like dialysis was like a million years of my life. So just the fact that we have been here for three years and the start of this podcast has been here for three years now is just so crazy. If you're new here, welcome. And if you are returning, um, hello, and nice to talk to you again. So, right before my two-year kidniversary, so a year and a couple months before, um, I went back to college. And so I graduated high school in 2015. And I went to school on and off, on and off. I went to six different colleges, including um community college and then other colleges like universities. I went to one CSU, California, and two in Arizona. And I finally graduated from a college called Grand Canyon University. Um, crazy how I even ended up there, but here we are. Um it yeah, it's just so crazy. When I even decided to go back, I was like, what am I getting myself into? And a year and a half later of no breaks, constant classes, as in class ends, a class course ends on a Sunday, and my next eight-week course starts again on that Monday. And it was constant, and I finished two years worth in one and a half years, and I am very proud of myself. And I do have to say that was extremely taxing on my mom, mind, body, and soul. Okay. When I tell you by the end, I thought I was done for. I am not kidding. It's just so crazy how working full-time and going to school full-time can affect your body physically, mentally for sure, but physically, I was done. I just could not do it anymore. So when I finally graduated, which was last Friday on the first, oh my gosh, it was like such a relief, such a happiness that I waited so long for that day to come. And I am so proud and happy for myself to have done that. When honestly, it got to a point when I truly did not think I was ever gonna graduate college. I never thought I would get my bachelor's, but I have my bachelor's. I'm a first-generation college graduate. Oh my gosh, I could cry. Um, I remember being in high school and being like, I'm gonna be the first college graduate in four years, yada, yada. And here we are 11 years later, but we still did it and we're still the first gen grad. So proud of myself for that one. And I'm very grateful to my family and all my friends that made this graduation so special and celebrated just the fact that I did that. Um, it was so amazing and I felt so loved. And the same day that I celebrated my graduation, I it was also my kenniversary. So there was just so many happy moments wrapped into one. I really felt so special. I will say though, looking back now, I just it's just so funny because my mom never knew that I was graduating. And I ended up, I didn't talk about it at all because I didn't want it to come back to her. I really just didn't want anyone to know and just be like, hey, by the way, come to Arizona this weekend. I'm getting, um, I was gonna say I'm getting married, I'm graduating college. And it pretty much ended up like that, but probably a I think it was it was September um before September of last year, my sister was visiting and she ended up staying longer than she was supposed to. So I ended up having to do homework. And mind you, on the weekends when I do homework, it's like eight plus hours of me doing homework, just sitting in front of my computer. And after a couple hours, like I could not hide anymore that I was obviously up to something. And she kept questioning me and questioning me because she's like, hang out with us, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, I can't, I have to do this. And yeah, so she ended up knowing early, but she ended up helping me surprise my mom and tell her, um, I I got like I made a little like plane ticket on Canva and I put like, you're headed to Jane's graduation, May 1st, 2026, yada yada yada. And I put her and my dad's name on it, and she opened it and she was like, Oh my gosh, you're graduating. I'm like, Yes, I am. And it was just like a really special moment. I was really happy, and I was happy that I was able to keep that a secret from her for as long as I did, because I ended up always telling my mom everything, and so it was really exciting to be able to surprise her and be like, oh my gosh, I finally did something that I never thought I would actually accomplish. And you're coming along. So that was great. One thing I will say, looking back at this past year, since my two-year kenniversary, is I feel like I have been in fire flight the entire year. Like, yes, by the end, it definitely got a lot worse, but I would say, since going back to school and trying to keep up with my full-time job, definitely has taken so much out of me, but also has caused me so much stress. And I let myself take on that stress. And if you ever go back through my posts on here, on Instagram, on YouTube, anything, like it's always saying, Oh, we gotta work on stress, try not to stress. You I stress too much, I need to work on that. Like, literally, I'm telling myself this over and over and over again. Yeah, I keep stressing and I keep letting it overtake my life literally to the point where I'm physically and mentally ill. And I feel like that's where I am right now. And if I could do it differently, I would probably wish that I wasn't working, but obviously that's not a thing. But I probably would have just given myself more grace in the fact that I was doing two really hard things and still making it work and reminding myself that it's not worth it to stress. Nothing is ever worth it to stress like that. However, I feel like I am just a stress girly, and that is just my biggest flaw. Other people can probably differ and say I have other bigger flaws, but for me mentally, that's something that ruins my life pretty often is stress. And it is something that now that I'm graduated and my only thing right now that I'm really focusing on is work and other things, you know, just in my life, but I don't have like big, huge deadlines anymore. I don't have homework throughout the week that I constantly have to get done. And I just feel like I have so many hours of my life back. What is there distress about? Literally, this weekend is my first weekend without homework. And yes, like that past weekend when I actually had my graduation, I technically didn't have homework that weekend, but that whole week I did, and I crammed in the entire weekend's worth of homework into that week when I was working. And let me just say, I duh so stressed. So now that I'm officially done, I don't have any more homework. I am all sunshine and rainbows and butterflies. I have big plans for my time, and I have bigger plans for this next year, my third year in my kenniversary era. One of the main things that is a goal, something I'm working on that sounds so silly, um, is fans and I are trying to have a baby. I don't really want to get into it because some of you guys know the full extent of everything, which I will totally 100,000 percent get into the nitty-gritty of our journey with trying to have a baby shortly. Um, just right now isn't the time, and I'm not really ready to fully get into it. But right now, that is our main focus um going into this part of life, this year of my kidney being fully functioned and healthy. Um, and we're really looking forward to hopefully the positive outcome through this journey. But I also just really want to get back to my roots. It's really hard with my work schedule, but also it's just excuses, I guess you can say. But my body just truly, I've been working here for a year and a half and it has never acclimated to my work schedule. We're getting off at 7 p.m. and being back at 7 a.m. And it's a constant like you can never wake up at the same time unless I choose to wake up at 5:30 every single day. And I'm just gonna be honest, I am not a morning person. If I could wake up at 7 a.m. every single day, that would be perfect. But me having to wake up at 5:30 every single day, and then sometimes not even having to go to work till 11, but some days I have to be there at 7. Like it's just really hard. And on days where I get off at 7 and then need to go to bed early because I have to be back at 7. But some days I get off late and I don't have to be back till like nine. It's just like my body does not like that schedule. I am so used to having a consistent schedule for years and years and years, and now you're telling me I have this bumpy schedule, like my body hates it. But I really want to get back to my roots of being able to just go to the gym every single day, at least four days a week. Moving my body like today, all I did today was go for a walk. And when I say I feel 10,000 times better than I did yesterday when I didn't go through for a walk, it's crazy. And I just miss lifting, I miss going to yoga. I oh yeah, another thing, I am about to take my final for my Pilates certification this month, and so I'll hopefully if I pass, be Matt Pilates certified, and I want to get better at Pilates. I don't really know my goal with my certification anymore. I had an original goal, but now it's I just don't know where that's headed. But this year I want to figure out what I want to do with that. Do I want to pursue teaching Pilates? Do I want to just learn more? I don't really know. But that's something that I'm also excited to explore more and just get back to just feeling the happiest, healthiest version of myself. Get the stress out and put the movement back in and just create those more positive endorphins every single day, which I desperately, desperately need in my life right now. But I'm also taking a lot of time to really care for my body because I neglected to care for her ever since I started lifting at 16, and I am 28 now, turning 29. That is a long time to just totally neglect your body of all things. And now you guys know already, but soft wave, chiropractic, acupuncture. I got my first like not sports massage, but more like intentional bodywork massage. And oh my gosh, I feel a lot better, but it's something that I would definitely need to keep up with because my body is just so messed up. And he was even saying, like, girl, you got some work to do. Like, trust me, I know. Overall, I just really want to find Jane again. It's kind of funny because when I was on dialysis, I don't know if you can relate, but I lost who quote unquote Jane was. I couldn't remember her anymore. I didn't know what it felt like to be me anymore. I just know that it was different than what I was experiencing in those moments. And once I had my transplant, I felt like me again, a different version of me, but it was me. I was there, I I felt amazing. And over this past year, I would definitely say slowly but surely, I lost that again through stress, through burnout, through overworking, through not having enough time to decompress through from the week. And just constantly having my brain on working on something. If it wasn't work, it was homework. If it wasn't homework, it was work. If it wasn't any of those, it was stressful things about something else in my life and letting it consume me constantly. And so I'm going to be more intentional and going back to truly saying no, even though it's so hard, taking time for myself and just doing more things that really make me happy. And I hope that if you feel like you're in a phase of life where you just can't find yourself right now, knowing that it will pass, just like anything that we've ever experienced with chronic illness, it's always a season, it's never the full story, and it's always hard to see that. But then look, you finally make it through and you can change the narrative of what's happening. And I feel like I finally made it to that point where I can finally start shifting my mindset and things that I do to create a more positive place for me in general. But as of right now, that is all that's new with me. Um, I really want to start posting more on socials, it's just so hard because honestly, I'm just not good at it. I'm just not. And sometimes I do like record a whole day and then I just leave it in my camera roll, and that's why I have a million videos in my phone and have not done anything with them. But I'm glad to be back. I felt inspired today, and it's also World Lucas Day, like I mentioned. So I'm like, hey guys, we need to make a quick little potty and talk about it. But um if you made it to the end of this, I hope you enjoyed. Also, I wanted to mention that there should be a link at the bottom of this episode, and it's where you can actually text me and it will go straight to my phone and my email. And there, I would love if you want to give me any feedback or if you have a topic that you want me to discuss more. I would love to hear from you guys and just hear what you want to talk about and listen to. Um, but other than that, I hope you have an amazing day, an amazing Mother's Day if you're a mom, an amazing World Lupus day, and I hope you're doing well. See you in the next one. Bye.