Medical Musings With Sam My Medical Musings

My latest episode is all about finding "The Good Stuff" in your life to distract you from living with chronic illness.

This is the stuff we need to do to mitigate "The Bad Stuff." This is about our well-being, our efforts to reclaim ourselves from the octopus arms of our diseases, and break free as much as we can.


I hope my "Good Stuff " list motivates you to find yours and incorporate it into your daily and weekly routine.

https://mymedmusings.com

I also want to highlight a wonderful travel vlog I've just discovered. The husband and wife team, Leanne and Dan, known as thebuddymoon, are from South Africa
They're so authentic, and you really feel you are experiencing travelling with good friends.

You can check them out on You Tube...
https://youtube.com/@thebuddymoon?si=5n606IPOAuSOb_xq

Have fun discovering your "Good Stuff"

Love,

Sam xx

Well, here we go again on a bit of a roller-coaster.

I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of the vision of my husband slumped half on the floor, with his head slammed into the hard arm of the chair, unconscious and vomiting while unresponsive. I’ve never been so scared in all my life.

In this episode I share our incredibly scary COVID journey which I am still on.

If nothing else I hope it raises awareness that we still need to be careful. This thing is fatal.

Take care and thanks so much for listening.

Sam xx

A few weeks ago, my husband ended up in hospital with a suspected stroke.

After numerous tests, including an MRI angiogram, a stroke was ruled out, but he was told he had short-term memory loss and “wear and tear ” showing on the MRA.

I could have told them that, so I wasn’t particularly happy with the outcome.

Once I was able to view the actual MRA report and do some research, it was apparent the damaged area of the brain was a little more than “wear and tear.”

Within weeks, we were given the diagnosis of Alzheimers disease, and a new life changing chapter of our lives begins.

I'm going to take you on our journey as much as I can to shine a light on this insidious disease. I hope you'll learn from my never-ending mistskes of what not to do, as well as feel encouraged by our love and commitment to each other to provide ongoing support and to do as much as we can to still laugh and live a life of faith and hope.

One thing I forgot to say on the podcast is that my husband is being referred to a neurologist in the hope he might be eligible for medication to slow the process. I'll keep you posted.

Here's some links I also promised to Alzheimers Queensland resources:
https://alzheimersonline.org/dementia-resources/

and my blog post, " Let's Make Some Lemonade,"

https://mymedmusings.com/2022/01/19/lets-make-some-lemonade/

Thanks for listening

Sam xx
www.mymedmusings.com

In this episode, I share my recent complex health update with details not in my blog posts.

I share how I'm coping or not coping but more importantly I share my strategies for dealing with so many changes to my health and life circumstances. These tips are as relevant to chronic and complex illness as they are to any other life changing circumstances.

I hope you will find something that resonates for you.

If you would like to keep up with my musings on a weekly basis you can check in with my blog at www.mymedmusings.com.

Thank you so much for listening. I so appreciate your support.

Love, Sam xx

#change
#plans
#ponder
#divideandconquer
#support
#pain

As a patient advocate, I am often called, inspiring, motivating, and full of strength despite my adversities.

While I want to be all those things in order to reach others and help them through their own inspiring, motivating, and incredible chronic illness journeys, the truth is most days I am just treading water.

I feel every inch of my daily pain. I look in the mirror, and my heart sinks at the reflection of the woman I used to be, let alone the woman I’d like to be now.

When we are treading water, we are not drowning. I think that’s an important point. Quite likely to the outside world, we look like we are managing very well.

When treading water, your head is still above the ocean, and while a few waves may threaten to crash over, you are generally afloat. Others would have little idea of the struggle going on underneath the calm blue sea.

Does A Diagnosis Make a Difference?
The diagnosis doesn’t change the outcome in terms of treatment or cure. There isn’t any, but it answers so many questions for me, and that’s priceless!

Everything I’ve experienced now makes so much sense. Yes, it’s rare. Yes, it’s a crazy disease. Yes, it’s progressive, and I’m acutely aware of the ramifications of that as my symptoms and my pain levels increase.

But I now know why, and for some reason, that knowledge removes its power over me. It’s part of me rather than being something attacking me from nowhere.

I hope you enjoy this episode as I share highs and lows and celebrate an amazing diagnostic milestone.

Take care

Sam xx

www.mymedmusings.com

#rarediseaseday
#Osteopetrosis
#cancer

You would be forgiven for thinking this is a Valentine’s Day post given the title I’ve chosen. It is about love but with a twist.

This blog post is about loving life again when chronic illness takes away things we have always loved but can no longer do.

It’s about love and losses.

It’s my musings about acceptance being the gateway to a new life.

Acceptance is not a sad resignation. It’s the pathway to peace, happiness, and freedom from prolonged grief.

Sam Moss

For me, acceptance is acknowledging my disabling rare disease “is what it is”. It’s part of me, but it’s not all of me.

I have formed strategies over the past ten years to adjust to my change in circumstances and to live a contented life.
www.mymedmusings.com