A Winning Heart
Welcome to A Winning Heart conversations about being awesome with a disability and raising awareness at the same time and absolutely Yes sometimes you have to say F…..CK you to your own mindset and especially your disability!
A Winning Heart
Navigating Life After a Chronic Diagnosis: My Journey with C. Diff
Sometimes life takes an unexpected turn that forces you to completely reimagine your future. After being rushed to the hospital following what I thought was just a C. diff recurrence, I received the life-altering news that I now have pancolitis and am permanently colonized with C. diff bacteria.
This episode takes you through my medical journey and the profound decisions that followed. The unpredictable nature of chronic C. diff means traditional employment is no longer viable for me, leading to my official retirement from the workforce. But rather than viewing this as the end of something, I'm embracing new beginnings – pivoting to full-time content creation and returning to school in August to pursue an entirely unexpected degree program.
Throughout our conversation, I share how this health challenge has paradoxically brought clarity and gratitude into my life. There's a cryptic mention of something significant on the horizon involving "more wheels than I'd like to count" – a major life change necessitated by my condition but opening doors to new possibilities. The podcast will take a brief hiatus in July before returning in August with a streamlined format featuring just Danielle and myself.
For anyone facing chronic illness or unexpected life changes, this episode offers a candid look at adapting to new realities. Whether you choose to support the podcast financially or simply by listening and sharing, I'm grateful to have you along for this evolving journey. The path forward may not be what I expected, but I'm determined to make the most of every step.
Welcome to a winning situation, you guys. And today I'm actually going to give you an in-depth I don't want to call it review, but in-depth education on my latest disability, which will be with me for the rest of my life. For those of you that don't know, I had C diff and I thought I was done with it, but it apparently wasn't done with me, and so C diff came back, and that's why, on May 20, well, on May 27th was our last was my last podcast episode. By the time May 30th hit, I had gone to the doctor. Hang on, let me check my notes here, because, yeah, I believe it was. Oh, come on, I believe it was May 30th when I went to the doctor. I'm just checking my notes here, you guys, so that I can give you the correct information.
Speaker 1:I went into, yeah, it was my sodias. So I went to the doctor on my sodias thinking that, oh, I was going to come home, thinking that my doctor was going to give me another dose of vancomycin, which I'm now on for C diff, and I thought that my doctor was going to give me another diagnosis because C diff came back. I was in horrible pain. I then got rushed to the hospital after the doctor's appointment. I didn't even come home, and so then I got rushed to the hospital. After the doctor's appointment. I didn't even come home, and so then I got rushed to the hospital. Turns out I had something called pancolitis, which is a form of colitis, which then kicked off the C diff, so C diff.
Speaker 1:I thought C diff would go away, but C diff is uncolonized with C diff, meaning that it can flare up anytime it dang well wants, and I am. Which leads me to my first announcement. I am fine right now because I'm on antibiotics, but hopefully it stays that way. And I am dealing with C diff and because of the new diagnosis disability, whatever you want to call it I can't go back into the workforce. Workforce and me do not mix. Workforce and me haven't mixed even before C diff, but especially now, after C diff diagnosis, I can't go back into the workforce because C diff likes to flare up at any time and dang well wants to. So, that being said, I am officially retired.
Speaker 1:I don't know if I told you guys this, but I am dealing with my C diff as it stands and I am actually not going back into the workforce. I am being a full-time content creator full-time, full-time, and so I am going to. I have it set up so that subscription content will be posted. If you guys want to be a subscriber, great. If you don't, you don't have to. But I am going to be a full-time content creator and not go back into the workforce and then we'll see.
Speaker 1:I'm perfectly fine financially. I just want a little bit of extra money so I can do the stuff I want to do. But I just feel like at this time, because of C diff, I don't know if C diff won't go away. Basically, let's cut to the case C diff won't go away. So the less stress I have in my life, the better, which I just feel that it's better for me to be a full-time content creator and it's better for me just to focus on my degree. I have to get all the paperwork organized for my degree, but, yes, I'm going back to school in August to do something that's completely out of my comfort zone and I have a backup plan just in case I don't get accepted to the program. And so it's going to be interesting as to say what the future will bring, and I'm in the process of doing something huge. And I'm in the process of doing something huge, which I will let you guys know when it happens.
Speaker 1:Me going back to school is only part of the thing. I'm doing something huge. Danielle knows exactly what it is and she's shaking her hand. Yes, because it involves let's just say it involves wheels More wheels than I would like to count, no. And so I'm in the process of doing something huge because, um, because I need to, because of cdif.
Speaker 1:Cdif has forced me to take a look at my life, which is a good thing, and so, um, and CDIF has also forced me to take a moment and be grateful for life, which is also good. So I will be a content creator. So if you want to support the podcast, that's great. You can support the show via Buzz, sprout or, and then all integrated with Apple Podcasts and, as I said, it will just be Danny and I in August, last September, and so we'll be taking one month off, which is July. So that will be a nice break for the two of us, because Danielle needs it and I need it. I need it to rest.
Speaker 1:So it's going to be interesting what this show will turn out to be, and I will still be doing, I will still be on Podbatch, still be doing interviews by other people. But I won't be necessarily gung-ho to do interviews of my own unless it's a fairly special case. But I won't be necessarily stinking out those interviews because of school and because of C diff. I need to relax my body and eliminate the stress of my. I need to eliminate the stress of my body. So C diff won't go away. And Google it. You're on risk people. As I said, google C diff and figure out what it is. It's a very horrible disease, but I wish I didn't have a chronic disease, but I do now. So I'm going to have to adapt to it and figure it out and make it happen, and so that's what I've done.
Speaker 1:And yeah, so that's the announcements on that and I will let you know when school starts. So you guys can't get a hold of me Once I get accepted into the program. And I do have a backup plan for if I don't get accepted. But we'll see. But hopefully I do and hopefully I can get this degree program underway and we'll see what happens. As I said, I also have a backup plan for this degree program if I don't get accepted. So we'll see. But yeah, so that's the end of the announcements. And, danielle, do you want to lead us out? Yes, thank you for following us. Thank you for following us. You guys and I will probably see you next week and then we will take it from there. It's a wild journey C, diff, and the new diagnosis is this wild journey. So if you guys support me, that's great. Financially. Just support me by liking the podcast and sharing it out, that's great. And then we'll go from there and I'll keep you guys updated on what's happening, and so we will keep you guys updated. Bye, you guys, bye.
