Brenda's Brainstorm & Trevor, a T Man Production 2009 - 2022

Before 2017 ends, I want to get this out in the open once and for all. After that, I never want to talk about it again. This will give you a real sense of why I dread the holidays, more and more each year. This year, has by far been the hardest, since I lost my mother. As a child I always loved the holidays and then one year, I didn't anymore. I was sick for many of them, missing school or church programs, that I looked so forward to. By the time I reached college, it was getting harder and harder to enjoy them. I would go caroling and sing in choirs. I was basically going through the motions. It was also a busy time at work, as I was working in accounting/mail center. The accounting especially was busy with year end details. Our mail center was ridiculously busy, with personal packages being shipped UPS and USPS. You would have thought we were a regular post office. The question that I received the most was, "When will my package get there?" How was I supposed to kno...

This blog post has been in the developing stages for several years, and I thought it was time, to share it with our readers. These will be my thoughts on advocacy and while I feel so strongly about it. I made a promise to my dying mother, to live my life and grab what I want. At the time, having no idea what that meant. I was losing my best friend, but wanted her to know, that I would be able to go on and honor her memory. Her passing was very hard and I still miss my mother every day, but that chance came along, to do something I had never done before. I became a true patient advocate. I had always advocated for myself. I asked for a CT for my head issues, because I knew something was wrong. I never once thought, it would end up being a brain tumor. The medical community did not really back me up on that decision. In fact, I was told twice during a telephone conversation; "If we find nothing, we're done." Although I have forgiven that great injustice done to me, I ha...

Hello, my friends! It's Trevor here, with our last tale of 2017. This one folks, is going to be serious. Brenda has lived with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), for over 26 years. She also became a 9 year brain tumor survivor on September 8th. She deals with daily chronic pain and on top of that, nausea most days. There never really is a reprieve with the pain. Brenda tells me, that there are times, when she can block it out. It helps to remain positive. That is not always easy. We thought the title; 'Pushing Through the Pain' would be quite apropos, for this particular tale. Brenda fights every day! She knows how important it is to keep moving. That is not always easy, when you are hurting all over. For those of you who are not familiar with RA. It is considered an autoimmune disease, which basically means, that the body attacks itself. It does not know what it is doing, so it ends up attacking healthy tissues and joints. RA can also be considered inflammatory. Brenda defin...

Hello my fellow readers, it's Trevor here again, with our second tale of the month. We usually only manage one, but we wanted to share this special one. Make that, I wanted to share. BOL On November 30th, which is only 4 days away, I will be celebrating 7 years, of coming into Brenda's life. I actually lived at Brenda's mother's apartment, for the first few months. Brenda was continuing to recover from her first carpal tunnel surgery and the second was coming up the first part of December, which could not be performed, because she became so sick before. It was postponed until December 30th.  If you are using your math skills, something Brenda did not like as a child. Funny thing about that is, she ended up working in the accounting department for 9 years at the clinic, where she is employed. She became very proficient with the ins and outs and all without a degree. She had people that were willing to teach her and a lot was done on the computer, so it became 2nd...

Hello my fellow readers, this is Trevor, with our monthly tale. This one has been a long time coming. Brenda has some thoughts, that she wants me to share with you. The holidays can be a very difficult time, especially if you are going to be spending them alone. Brenda in all likelihood will be. This will be her 7th Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. that she will be alone for. Some of the suggestions she has received are not only ridiculous, but are not even feasible. Brenda does not own a vehicle, so she depends on taxi cabs, to get her where she wants to go. If she makes a trip to the mall, that ends up becoming an expensive day. She needs to at least make it worth her while, for taking the round trip in the first place. It usually includes having lunch, doing some shopping, perhaps getting her hair trimmed, etc. You get the idea. Brenda has been told she should volunteer at churches. How does she get there? We live in North Dakota. If you have ever been here, you know that we get ...

Hi it's Trevor here. This will be a short tale. BOL We wanted to let our readers know, that last week, Brenda became co-author of a second book. No, I did not help her write it. BOL It's titled; Real Life Diaries: Living with Rheumatic Diseases. It was released on World Arthritis Day, which was certainly an inspiration come true. It is #30 in the Grief Diaries/Real Life Diaries Anthology Series. It is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle. You can go directly to purchase it, if you wish, through Brenda's author page. Please spread the word, to your friends and relatives, far and wide. The writers are from all over the world. Brenda said it was a joy once again, to work with Lynda Cheldelin Fell, on such an important writing project. Brenda was thrilled to co-author this book with her friend, Layne Martin and fellow CreakyJoints community member. This book could not have come to fruition, without the work of Dr. Mary Ann Wilmarth, writing the foreword and n...

RABlog Week Day 4 Thursday - Hobbies: Hobbies are healthy or maybe they are not? What is your hobby and how does it help with your autoimmune conditions? If you do not have a hobby, imagine a great hobby for a person dealing with RA.  Trevor, The Tell Tale Dog My biggest hobby is ultimately being creative, while spreading awareness. I like to use pictures to describe, what I am trying to convey. My blog got a big face lift in 2011, when Brenda's Brainstorm added a storyteller, named Trevor, The Tell Tale Dog. I thought having tales with a golden retriever's point of view, would be fun and creative. It turned out to be much more, than I ever dreamed possible. He became not only a big part of my blogs posts, but also inspirational messages. I am going to share the life of Trevor in pictures, that I have taken and also worked with graphics. I really enjoy bringing him to life, not only with blog posts, but with pictures as well. As I write this, today has not been ...

     So excited to be involved again this year, with the 3RD Annual RA Blog Week. This is my 2nd year, as Rick Phillips was kind enough to invite me last year. Normally my storyteller Trevor, would be sharing our tales, but I am giving him the week off. He is golden retriever, who is a great helper in having me spread awareness and hope. A little explanation about my blog. I recently became a 9 year brain tumor survivor, so that is where Brenda's Brainstorm comes in. I have lived with RA for over 26 years, but my writing started as a result of my brain tumor experience. I suddenly became creative. Just wanted to give the rest of you a little background. RA Blog Week Day One: Monday - Mental Health - How do you maintain your mental health while dealing with autoimmune disease? Discuss how dealing with RA every day makes you emotional. Do you hide your emotions?  I can honestly say that in the beginning of my journey of RA, all that was going through my mind, was...

Hello my fellow readers, it's Trevor here once again, with our monthly tale. This is going to be about Brenda's recent celebration of her 9th Craniversary or the anniversary of her craniotomy. Yes, brain tumor survivors actually do celebrate that momentous occasion. BOL A little explanation about why this is so significant. Each year for a brain tumor survivor, is truly triumphant. This year Brenda wanted to have a theme that would stand out, with her years of survival. Me being a dog, there just wasn't anything that stood out, but Brenda came up with something quite unique and creative. A 9Lives campaign was launched. We have to come clean here and share that this idea was really inspired by Morris the Cat, who used to be the spokescat BOL for 9Lives cat food. I just made up that name myself. Crack myself up at times. BOL So being that Brenda has now been a brain tumor survivor for 9 years, this was perfect. Having had a craniotomy for a brain tumor, is considered a se...

Hi Trevor here, with our monthly tale. When we last left off, Brenda was on a summer medical tour. Well, that finally ended this week, but we wanted to share with you, some updates. The dermatologist was next and Brenda had to have 3 skin shave biopsies. They numb the areas first, but it's pretty much taking a blade and shaving off the skin, so not the most pleasant. In this case, it was 3 moles. One they had been watching and it seemed to be changing, so it was best to just have it removed. The other 2 were newer and the dermatologist decided, it was just better to take those off as well. Brenda only had to wait a week for the results. One was normal. They other two were atypical or in that they were changing, so they needed to be removed as well. Under the microscope, it looks like everything was taken, according to the cells. Brenda knows that more of these kind of moles could develop. She was told that it could be because of her living with an autoimmune disease. It always ...

Hi, it's Trevor here, for our monthly tale. This time is going to be about Brenda's medical journey, which has been pretty active. We are going to start out with the health scare that she experienced. Brenda was told on examination with her GYN Nurse Practitioner, while doing her breast exam, that she found a lump at the 4 o'clock position in her right breast. This was on June 1st. All Brenda heard was o'clock and not where it was located. That was confirmed when she went in to have her 3D Mammography and Breast Ultrasound on June 28th. Her mammogram was originally scheduled for September, but when this was found, the NP wanted to have it looked at sooner, to make sure there was nothing more serious. It was also noted that this could be scar tissue, from her breast reduction, that was performed 11 years ago. So Brenda didn't share with anyone, except her medical team what was going on. Truth is, she didn't know much, as was mentioned above, she didn't ev...

Hi it's Trevor here again, to share our monthly tale. Yesterday, Brenda celebrated her 29th year with the clinic, where she is employed. That is quite an accomplishment, given the fact, that over 26 of those years, she has lived with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). She also received a nice surprise yesterday. She was notified that she was the "May Remarks Recipient"... Let me explain what that means. Each month where she is employed, other co-workers have a chance to make remarks about something positive their fellow co-worker has done. There are 2 awards given, one who makes the remark and the other, being the recipient, which was Brenda. In Brenda's case it was helping a couple who was lost. This is kind of comical, because Brenda herself does not have a good sense of direction. BOL She admits that herself. We even had a good laugh about this yesterday. BOL Yes, my golden heart was shaking with laughter. BOL Anyway, Brenda offered to take them where they needed ...

Hello my fellow readers and dog friends! BOL It's Trevor here, wanting to share something that I hope will bring sunshine to your day. The weather is gorgeous here in North Dakota with a little wind and a temperature of 84°... Today, was another of what Brenda calls Sunshine Saturday. It's a day of focusing only on the positive and hope! There have been some pretty great ones so far. Talking about birds and watching a guitar lesson in progress. That has all been during her "ME DAYS" at the mall. She had a very nice visit with her taxi driver on the way. She was sharing with Brenda about being excited to go back to her home state, to visit family that she hasn't seen for over 20 years. Brenda could relate, because some of her family is not in close proximity. She got to the mall and stopped for her iced coffee; a Mint Condition with Dark Chocolate. Brenda was walking and noticed that her Golden Retriever handbag was buzzing. BOL She reached in and realized th...

Trevor, The Tell Tale Dog, here again, to share with you another inspiring story of Brenda's life. It has now been 26 years, since Brenda was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis, at the age of 31. It was a very dark Wednesday in May when she was in the rheumatologist's office, when he said, "I am afraid that this is going to take longer than we thought." He didn't even really come right out and say she had RA. Her nurse handed her a bunch of pamphlets, which were to explain, how she was supposed to live with this disease. She was supposed to go back to work after hearing or not really hearing this news. She was in shock and she thought her life was really over, as she knew it. She had been having some problems for quite some time. In fact she had had an RA factor test done along with an ANA, because they were suspicious of Lupus, but that came back negative. The RA factor test however, was extremely high. She had had a bad bout with bursitis in her l...

Hello, it's Trevor here. As some of you know, this blog post was supposed to have been written last weekend. Sometimes in life things happen, so I will be sharing about that and some other issues on Brenda's heart. Brenda is now an 8½ year meningioma brain tumor survivor. Her motion issues have become worse, since having gone through this experience. One in particular, is her attacks of benign positional vertigo. Essentially it's when you have a false sense that the room is spinning and when you go back to the original position, before you experience that false sense, the room does not spin. It has something to do with the inner ear and crystals that get out of proportion. Brenda had not had an attack for quite sometime, but last Saturday that all changed. It lasted well over 5 hours. She had her anti-nausea medicine and meclizine on hand. The trick was to get to it, without falling down. She was leaning over the toilet, with her head down and sweat dri...

Hello, my fellow readers! Trevor here again, to share another exciting tale. It's National Brain Injury Awareness Month folks, so this particular post will be centered around that. As you know, Brenda was co-author of a book last year, titled: Grief Diaries: Living with a Brain Injury. Lynda Cheldelin Fell, the founder of Grief Diaries and Brenda's friend, made a pawmazing pawnouncement this week. I am writing this blog, so I am putting some doggy lingo into it. BOL This book was the first in the series, to now be named; Real Life Diaries: Living with a Brain Injury. A new cover was even created. We think this is really cool, with it being National Brain Injury Awareness Month.  You can still purchase it at Amazon. com. by clicking on the image, that you will find on our main blog page, and that will take you right to Brenda's author page. Lynda was kind enough to help Brenda get that set up, as this was all new to her. Her friends at CreakyJoints,...