spillthebeans

By Alyssa Hollingsworth I have measured out my life with coffee spoons--which is a poetic way of saying, I am a spoonie on several levels: Rheumatoid Arthritis, Raynaud's Syndrome, Hashimoto Hypothyroid, Type 1 Diabetes, Celiac, and gastroparesis. It all started when I was 17, and those last three diagnoses came in this past year (I’m 25 now). Being a spoonie is straight-up exhausting to the tune of I-don’t-even-want-to-breathe, need-to-take-a-break-while-buttering-toast, it-was-a-bad-idea-to-scrape-this-ice-off-my-car. Sometimes it can be hard to make and maintain relationships, because it takes so many spoons to get out of bed, walk the dog, and go to work or school. There just aren’t a lot of spoons left for coffee or group activities or noise in general. Throughout the years, though, relationships have boomeranged back time and again to encourage me in surprising ways. These are five gifts that have made me smiled on hard days, gotten me back on my feet, or just ...

All of my earliest memories involve doctors’ offices. I have missed more Christmas Eve services than I have attended due to my apparent inability to recover from the common cold. I have a disease that even most doctors have never heard of. I am a full-time college student. When I was ten, my life ambition was to be a ballerina. Now, I just want to be able to live independently. My name is Susanna Karth and I have Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. And a lot of other things too. Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) is a hereditary, genetic, neurological disorder that causes sensory and motor function loss. Basically, my genetic code has a flaw in it that allows blockage to build up in my nerves (yes, directly in my nerves, I had no idea that could happen). The result is a disconnect between my brain and my muscles because my nerves can’t pass on signals. There are multiple ways that CMT can be inherited, and some types are worse than others, but all of them are incurable. In addition to CMT, I also have...

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...