A Tale of Emotions
Hi, it's Trevor, The Tell Tale Dog here to share another inspiring tale of Brenda's
life.
Today, makes 22 years since she was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis or
RA, which we will refer to in this blog post. It has been a long road, make that
a roller coaster, with ups and downs, as this disease pretty much has changed
her life significantly. One thing she wants to tell you, is that living with RA
is a part of her life and not her entire life.
She is much more. She likes to write, sing, do her computer projects at home
and even at work. She enjoys a challenge and being able to figure something
out is huge, since she is also a brain tumor survivor. We mention both of these
aspects, because it just happens to be Arthritis and Brain Tumor Awareness Month.
She considers this to be a double blessing. Yes, you heard that correctly. Brenda
has certainly turned her lemons into lemonade and has shared her profits with
others.
This blog post is about emotions, something Brenda is keenly aware of having
lived with a chronic disease and also being a brain tumor survivor. The emotions
of living with RA, when the pain gets so bad at times, that all you want to do is
curl up in a ball and cry your eyes out. She also deals with emotions being a brain
tumor survivor, because of the location that her BT was, the right frontal lobe,
or has been referred to as the White House of the brain. The high functioning
part where emotions can run wild at times and believe me, they do.
One of the ways she copes and deals with her emotions, is by writing. She keeps
a journal, which has helped to be able to express how she feels and it is completely
private. She also writes for pleasure and to spread inspiration and hope.
Living with these 2 significant challenges, you certainly go back and forth with
emotions. You can be laughing one minute and then see something so touching,
that it just causes you to burst into tears. She experienced this once when she
was shopping. A little girl got lost in the store and was crying for her mom. She
started to cry too, because she felt empathy for the little girl. It turned out well,
as they did end up locating her mom.
Brenda has a passion and that is to help others. She takes this very seriously and
when that is discounted, that really hurts. How many times are you going to offer
your services, if they are not wanted or needed? She has found where she fits in
and that truly seems to be in the arthritis community.
CreakyJoints has really been a nice fit for her. She started by writing blogs posts
and working with some great people. She has enjoyed working with every single
person from there. She is really happy to be part of a team. She has been working
as an editor for their Poet's Corner (and Artists Too), since the beginning of the
year. She has really enjoyed this and has been told she is doing a great job. There
is nothing more gratifying than to hear that.
When she was diagnosed, she really thought her life was over as she knew it. She
fought hard and continues to fight every day. She found something almost 10 years
into living with RA, that truly changed her life. Enbrel a biologic, has allowed her
to continue working full time.
She has had quite a year with sharing her testimony, as that has been covered in recent
blog posts.
Another thing she loves to do is write poetry. A gift she really believes was passed
down from her mother. Here is her most recent poem, along with a word cloud, she
also created on a sleepless night.
Emotions Unplugged
life.
Today, makes 22 years since she was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis or
RA, which we will refer to in this blog post. It has been a long road, make that
a roller coaster, with ups and downs, as this disease pretty much has changed
her life significantly. One thing she wants to tell you, is that living with RA
is a part of her life and not her entire life.
She is much more. She likes to write, sing, do her computer projects at home
and even at work. She enjoys a challenge and being able to figure something
out is huge, since she is also a brain tumor survivor. We mention both of these
aspects, because it just happens to be Arthritis and Brain Tumor Awareness Month.
She considers this to be a double blessing. Yes, you heard that correctly. Brenda
has certainly turned her lemons into lemonade and has shared her profits with
others.
This blog post is about emotions, something Brenda is keenly aware of having
lived with a chronic disease and also being a brain tumor survivor. The emotions
of living with RA, when the pain gets so bad at times, that all you want to do is
curl up in a ball and cry your eyes out. She also deals with emotions being a brain
tumor survivor, because of the location that her BT was, the right frontal lobe,
or has been referred to as the White House of the brain. The high functioning
part where emotions can run wild at times and believe me, they do.
One of the ways she copes and deals with her emotions, is by writing. She keeps
a journal, which has helped to be able to express how she feels and it is completely
private. She also writes for pleasure and to spread inspiration and hope.
Living with these 2 significant challenges, you certainly go back and forth with
emotions. You can be laughing one minute and then see something so touching,
that it just causes you to burst into tears. She experienced this once when she
was shopping. A little girl got lost in the store and was crying for her mom. She
started to cry too, because she felt empathy for the little girl. It turned out well,
as they did end up locating her mom.
Brenda has a passion and that is to help others. She takes this very seriously and
when that is discounted, that really hurts. How many times are you going to offer
your services, if they are not wanted or needed? She has found where she fits in
and that truly seems to be in the arthritis community.
CreakyJoints has really been a nice fit for her. She started by writing blogs posts
and working with some great people. She has enjoyed working with every single
person from there. She is really happy to be part of a team. She has been working
as an editor for their Poet's Corner (and Artists Too), since the beginning of the
year. She has really enjoyed this and has been told she is doing a great job. There
is nothing more gratifying than to hear that.
When she was diagnosed, she really thought her life was over as she knew it. She
fought hard and continues to fight every day. She found something almost 10 years
into living with RA, that truly changed her life. Enbrel a biologic, has allowed her
to continue working full time.
She has had quite a year with sharing her testimony, as that has been covered in recent
blog posts.
Another thing she loves to do is write poetry. A gift she really believes was passed
down from her mother. Here is her most recent poem, along with a word cloud, she
also created on a sleepless night.
Emotions Unplugged
Living with chronic pain,
What have I to gain?
Those feelings of fear,
knowing RA is always near.
Crying in the night,
well, that just isn’t right!
Anger takes over,
Where is my four-leaf clover?
Joy and laughter for the day,
helps to keep my pain at bay.
Empathy, true understanding from friends,
gives me hope, till this pain finally ends!
04/28/2013
Brenda Kleinsasser
We hope you have enjoyed this blog post. Until next time, this is Trevor,
The Tell Tale Dog, wishing you all peace and understanding.
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