Presently She Began Again.

The stuff kicking around my head.

[presentlybeganagain]

Even Doctors Can be Dumb

I haven’t posted in months. You probably haven’t noticed. But let me tell you what I was up to.

We begin at the beginning. In 2010, I developed a constant, unceasing pain encompassing the entire right side of my body. No one had any idea what was causing it, but it wasn’t horrible so I followed my doctor’s advice to ignore it.

Skip to this past Thanksgiving, when after dinner I suddenly developed a totally debilitating pain in my left ribcage area. After two hours it went away.

Two hour unpredictable attacks gave way to 24/7 attacks by late March. An OB/GYN diagnosed me with uterine fibroids, and even though he insisted they weren’t causing my pain, he prescribed opiate painkillers that were effective but gave me the cognitive function of a bowl of jello. For most of April and May, I couldn’t drive myself places or accomplish any work.

In June, I was reassigned to an OB/GYN who specializes in robotic uterine surgery. She believed the huge fibroid pressing on my lower intestine was causing my pain. (The previous doctor had been reading my MRI backwards.) We scheduled surgery for September, this month.

Convinced since early spring my pain was real and so unusually severe for a legitimate reason, I thoroughly researched doctors in my region and came up with one I thought could be my own Dr. House. After a three month wait, I saw her in July. She diagnosed me with fibromyalgia and FODMAP sensitivity.

She laid out a plan to slowly rid myself of the pain that had been dominating my life for so long. Medication, dietary changes, walking, and restorative yoga implemented since July have led me to be pain-free and much more physically functional than I have ever been, even as a child.

I couldn’t eat without getting sick, but now I eat without incident. I could barely walk from my bedroom to my living room, but as of this week I can run two miles. I’ve been totally off pain killers for more than a month. My surgery is next week, and I can’t wait to heal up and truly be 100% for the first time ever. I can’t wait to find out what my body is capable of. CrossFit? A marathon?

My point in sharing this is to say no one knows your body better than you do. If doctors dismiss your complaints or act like they are simply an unsolvable mystery, don’t give up. There is a doctor out there somewhere who will believe you and can diagnose you. Advocate for yourself. Fight for yourself. It could radically change your life, or even save it.

[beckittns]

Hang In There, Baby

[feministsspoileverything]

A feminist spoils Citizen Kane.

[presentlybeganagain]

The Mouse's Tail by Lewis Carroll

Fury said to a mouse, That he met in the house, 'Let us both go to law: I will prosecute you.— Come, I'll take no denial; We must have a trial: For really this morning I've nothing to do.' Said the mouse to the cur, 'Such a trial, dear sir, With no jury or judge, would be wasting our breath.' 'I'll be judge, I'll be jury,' Said cunning old Fury; 'I'll try the whole cause,  and condemn you to death.'

[hellanne]

Birds born in a cage think flying is an illness.

Alejandro Jodorowsky (via hellanne)

[presentlybeganagain]

A Little Fable by Kafka

"Alas", said the mouse, "the whole world is growing smaller every day. At the beginning it was so big that I was afraid, I kept running and running, and I was glad when I saw walls far away to the right and left, but these long walls have narrowed so quickly that I am in the last chamber already, and there in the corner stands the trap that I must run into."

"You only need to change your direction," said the cat, and ate it up.

[presentlybeganagain]

Life itself, when understood and utilized for what it is, is sweet.

The Tao of Pooh, by Benjamin Hoff

[presentlybeganagain]

Lesbian Problems

Every time I adjust my necktie, my bra straps slip.

[presentlybeganagain]

[americanguide]

JEAN LAFITTE NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK AND PRESERVE - MARRERO, LOUISIANA

Covered in lichens, garlanded by Spanish moss comes this delta dispatch from photographer Elena Ricci:

Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve is located in Marrero, Louisiana, just south of New Orleans.

Sweeping landscapes of marsh reeds, palmetto thickets and soaring cypress trees make this park a prime example of the uniqueness of Louisiana’s Mississippi delta region. Hidden amongst the vegetation are critters, large and small, playing the predator and prey game on a picturesque backdrop. Great horned owls, vultures, alligators, boars, raccoons, rabbits, spiders and snakes are just a few of the animals that call this beautiful swampland home.

Visitors welcome, their door is always open.

[Some 35mm film, some 120mm film, some digital and some cell phone; All swamp.]

* * *

Elena Ricci is a photographer living and working in New Orleans, Louisiana. Most of her photography focuses on the South, but she travels far and often. As an ongoing collaborative, she makes up one fourth of the lady photo ensemble Southerly Gold. Find Elena’s website at elenaricciphotography.com and follow her on Tumblr at elenaricciphotography.tumblr.com.

[presentlybeganagain]

Bob Dylan was there with her, she wasn't there with him.

Steve Earle, on Joan Baez's political activism in the 60s.

[presentlybeganagain]

We celebrate the past to awaken the future.

John Kennedy

[wellesleymag]

The Wellesley College Banjo Club, 1892.

[presentlybeganagain]

If music could only bring peace, I'd only be a musician.

Pete Seeger

[presentlybeganagain]

A poem by Philip Larkin: Since the majority of me  Rejects the majority of you,  Debating ends forwith, and we  Divide. And sure of what to do  We disinfect new blocks of days  For our majorities to rent  With unshared friends and unwalked ways,  But silence too is eloquent:  A silence of minorities  That, unopposed at last, return  Each night with cancelled promises  They want renewed. They never learn.

[misiomisio]

[presentlybeganagain]

It was the fourth day after Christmas in the Year of Our Lord 1890. When the first torn and bleeding bodies were carried into the candlelit church, those who were conscious could see Christmas greenery hanging from the open rafters. Across the chancel front above the pulpit was strung a crudely lettered banner: "Peace on earth, good will to men."

Dee Brown, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee