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

" You should go on disability and have your husband take care of you."  Yes, that is what Brenda was told by her first rheumatologist, at the beginning of her rheumatoid arthritis (RA) journey. Thanks for the encouragement, right? What husband do you speak of? Brenda was the sole breadwinner.  She told him, that she would work, until she no longer could. On June 2nd, Brenda will celebrate her 30th year work anniversary at the clinic, where she has been employed since 1988. She was diagnosed with RA in May of 1991, almost 3 years after her full-time employment began. You do the math! I would say that she has pretty much defied the odds on this one. Back when this all happened, it was the norm, that by 10 years, you would possibly become disabled and no longer be able to work. Arthritis is the #1 cause of disability in the United States. We share for this reason.  If you did your math, Brenda has already defied those odds by 17 years. Nothing has ever been the n...

Hello my fellow readers! It's Trevor here once again, to share our monthly tale. This one is going to be extra special, folks! Yesterday, which was Friday the 13th, do we have anyone superstitious reading this? BOL This day and date, 17 years ago, turned out to be a day that Brenda was offered a life changing experience. Of special note, it was also Good Friday that year in 2001. As you know, Brenda has lived with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) for almost 27 years. Almost 10 years after living with it, she had a conversation with her PCP, as she was not seeing a rheumatologist at the time. Their attitude in the beginning, was that Brenda was going to get worse and her disease would progress. Just what you want to hear, right? She couldn't deal with that negative thinking, so she was at this time, only going to her PCP. Back to our story. She told him that she was ready to consider starting a biologic. In this case, it would be the first one, which was FDA approved in 1998. Enb...

Hello, my fellow readers. It's Trevor sharing our monthly tale. This one folks is going to be GOLD! BOL You're probably thinking as you read this, that I am going to talk about myself. You wouldn't be more mistaken. BOL I am going to share some pretty pawsome events, that have occurred in Brenda's life the past 9 + years. Yesterday, which was March 8th, she became a 9½ year brain tumor survivor. Only 6 months to go before she celebrates her 10th Craniversary on September 8th. Every year that has become a major celebration. Brain tumor survivors refer to it, as their second chance at life. I'm not big on my fairy tales, but it seems there was this character named King Midas, who hoped that everything he touched would turn to gold. Brenda likes this analogy, because when she had her craniotomy they used a Midas Drill. Her nonmalignant right frontal lobe meningioma was pretty easy to get at. When they opened the bone flap, they were able to get the entire tumor...

Hello, it's Brenda here, starting off with our 2nd blog post of the year. Trevor will be sharing about the importance of interacting with others and community in a bit. I wanted to say how blessed I've been, to have such a great storyteller. This month marks 7 years, that he started sharing our tales. His first blog post was February 13, 2011, just after my mother entered the nursing home. Several milestones are being celebrated this year. This is one of them. Trevor will now continue with our tale. Thank you Brenda! I've enjoyed working my paws and sharing these tales. BOL. As Brenda mentioned, we are going to explore the importance of interacting with others and community. What does that mean exactly? Interacting with someone can be as simple, as a smile, while passing someone in the hallway. In Brenda's case, that would include the local hospital. Brenda goes to get her lunch there almost every day. She doesn't have to go outside, because there is a tunne...

Hi Trevor here, with our first blog post of the year. This post was actually an inspiration from a brain tumor sister and friend of Brenda's. We always like to give credit, where credit is due. Brenda is passionate about sharing her story. She has a knack for being creative in doing so. As you can see from our title, we are going to explore lemons. First off, yellow is Brenda's favorite color. Her bedroom while she still living at home yet, was painted with Lemon Whip walls. She had a yellow floral design with her bedspread and matching curtains. Sounds very 70's to me. BOL Brenda has always liked yellow and orange, so that was the idea behind her creation of Sunshine Saturday. Of special note, every 2nd Saturday of each month, has been designated for that special day. It's a day to concentrate on only positive events. You would be amazed what can happen, when you choose to change your mindset for a day. Got a little off track here. Back to our concept of turnin...

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...