spillthebeans

I’m spending the week with one of my closest friends, so I’ll have to ask you to forgive my absence. It’s been a whirlwind already but one of the best times I’ve had in a long while. It’s been amazing and I’m loving it so much. In the meantime, my fibromyalgia does not let up when I have company—if anything, the symptoms are even more unfortunate when I do have friends over. I’ve already had a splitting headache once, last night, and today I’m feeling very fatigued. I’m on a new medication that has a side effect of sleepiness and dizziness, and those side effects hit especially hard today. Despite this fact, I just got done having immense fun outside with my friend and siblings—doing a photo shoot and making amateur videos. It was great fun, but now I’m beat. One of the things I’ve been working on is being more open and honest with my friends when I do feel awful, and so far it’s paid off well. It means the world to me to have my friend understand and know that I’m not feeling well. Ev...

“We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.”  -Ray Bradbury Whew. What a start for this blog. The encouragement and outpouring of support from you guys has been incredible and unexpected. Thank you. Thank you so much. It means the world to me that you already like this blog and want to see it succeed—after all, I do too. Tuesday was a flurry of excitement as I started the blog and had inspiration bursting out of my veins and onto the screen. It was amazing. After months of lying dormant, my creativity was awakened. I accomplished something. But now I’m kind of in a rut. It’s the letdown after a huge rollercoaster high of amazing comments and likes and pageviews and getting to hear all of your stories. But now I’m just like… now what? Where do I go from here? I have so many ideas, so many thoughts, and I don’t know where to begin. I could talk about my doctor’s appointment earlier today, which, w...

I don’t talk about it much online, and I really don’t have a true reason, other than, I honestly don’t think about it much anymore. But, a dear friend (Oh how much more she has gone through) sparked the inspiration to talk about my thorn. I have Knee Bursitis. Bursitis is a condition where the padding in your joints (called Bursea) becomes inflamed. It’s pretty painful at times. Thankfully, it isn’t an all the time ache (Thank the Lord) but when it does, it can get pretty crippling.   I’m not going to go into much detail over it, except, that when you can’t run, or be terribly active because otherwise, your knees feel like they are about to crumble, and make you fall, you feel....awkward.  It’s no fun having to sit out at your brother’s 5K races, and tell everyone “I don’t like running” when, there is nothing you;d like more then being able to try at least once.  When all your friends try goading you into running on Thursday nights with them, and you can’t, because you k...

Pain. It’s a warning. A flash of red against your eyelids, a stabbing sensation in your thigh. It’s what you feel when you stub your toe or when you hit your head on the doorway because you’re a 6’7” basketball player. Pain is what your body does when there’s something wrong. And it’s what I experience every day. But first, let me back up sixteen years. I was born. (Duh.) But the circumstances leading up to it are… intense, to say the least. If you were watching a movie of my life, I think you’d most likely be on the edge of your seat. At least, I’ve been on the edge of my seat for my life. My parents almost lost me twice; the first when my mom started bleeding during the pregnancy, and the second time happened when I was (trying) to come out and be born into the world. Oh, and there was actually a third time, which happened when I had to have heart surgery at only two days old. But I made it through. Fast forward to the present day. Remember my lovely metaphors for pain at the beginni...

Welcome to Spill the Beans! It isn’t much yet, but I’m working on it. The purpose of this site is simple: to serve as encouragement and community for teens with chronic pain or other chronic illnesses. I personally have fibromyalgia, so this blog will tend to focus on that more than anything else. However, I don’t want to limit this blog to just fibromyalgia or even just chronic pain. This blog’s focus is that, yes, but let’s face it: having ANY chronic illness when you’re a teenager can be an absolute pain in the butt. I’m here to tell you that you’re not alone, and hopefully you can remind me of that from time to time, too. And remember… normal is just a setting on your washing machine. Love, Sky