How A Routine Blood Test Woke Me Up & Gave Me The Biggest Scare Of My Life

Feel Good Project day 41

Life is VERY different than one year ago today.

Exactly one year ago tonight, I was checked into Aventura Hospital in southern Florida, undergoing scans to make sure there were no masses in my body-specifically my digestive organs.

Not where I ever imagined myself in any case scenario that’s for sure.

Justin and I were visiting Dayton Medical center in Sunny Isles Beach for a few days, getting blood workups, ultrasounds, and overall health markers checked, all before we were to attend a wellness retreat in the Dominican Republic the following month in January 2014.

I knew I had been feeling HORRIBLE for quite some time leading up to this trip, however I was shocked by what lay in store for me that trip.

My CA 19-9 (cancer antigen marker/levels for pancreas) was significantly high, which was both good and bad news.

Good because FINALLY I felt like I wasn’t crazy-that SOMETHING was actually physically going on in my body that now validated the lousy digestion I had been experiencing.

The bad was that hearing that word ‘cancer‘ even associated with a test you have just received back stopped me in my tracks.

I mean-I wanted SOMETHING to turn up and give me some answers..but certainly not this!

This was honestly the first time in my life where I felt out of my body upon getting this news of needing to get sent right away to the hospital for further testing.

I say out of my body in two very different ways.

First, like people always say-you kind of kick it into high gear and do what you gotta do to get through. Put on a brave face even when you don’t feel it. So I did just that. That ‘me’ was a version of myself I had never experienced before.

Secondly, as the iodine rushed through my veins via IV during a CT scan, I observed my body from a distance it seemed…and I KNEW no matter what the outcome of these tests were-I NEEDED to make changes in my life.

Feeling better was going to take more drastic measures than I thought.

Since that wake up call I have to say that I have never been the same.

Even though I was already eating very clean and treating my body pretty darn good, I was willing to do whatever it took to keep living, and living a far better quality of life than I had been previously.

That was the turning point for me, and I think about that day often and I am THANKFUL for it.

The tests proved positive that there was nothing brewing tumor-wise that would cause the CA 19-9 to be so elevated PRAISE GOD!!!!!!

However, this whole year has been spent testing and re-testing every few months to check in and see how it’s going.

If I have learned anything about returning to feeling good-it’s that it is SLOW.

Slower than I ever imagined. Bumpier than I thought possible. Frustrating beyond belief at times. Painful to the point of wanting to give up.

BUT sprinkled with just enough grace to keep going.

Given just enough little clues along the way to help piece the ongoing puzzle together.

And more than enough LIFE happening to me and around me to want to KEEP figuring this thing out so that I can thrive through the days before me.

I would MUCH rather be sitting here on my couch this evening watching Holiday Inn and snuggling with my puppy than shivering with uncontrollable teeth chattering and adrenaline running in a freezing cold ER room in Florida.

THAT is a miracle.

Shows me HOW far I have come. I have to remember this on days when I don’t feel so good. Things HAVE changed and ARE changing still.

FEEL GOOD MOMENT OF THE DAY: A text I sent to a friend telling her I was a tad late and these replies came back to me…”It’s FINE.” “Relax.” “Breathe.” Beautiful reminder. Thank you Shea!