Life Inspires Me

Archive for May, 2009

May 6, 2009-  Before the sun had risen I was up at 5am. With no breakfast in my tummy and no makeup on my face, my mom & I headed to the hospital. Not sure why but I was channeling the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the 1990 cartoon), and my mantra walking into the hospital was “Let’s turtalise em!”  Yes, let’s turtalise these tumors!!

We checked into outpatient, signed some forms, and headed back to get prepped for surgery. Here is my small complaint… what is the first thing you wake up in the morning and do?? Most people go to the bathroom. Prepping for surgery they want you to pee in a cup to run some tests, general procedure. Well I couldn’t go, so they ended up having to draw blood. I hate needles!! The IV is bad enough, and more needles set me over the edge..

Surgery was a few hours and I woke up in Recovery with minimal pain. I did a swoop surgery to remove 10 tumors from head to toe… more like head to thighs and my poor boobie (boob) was a wounded in battle. Released from the hospital about 1pm and home to veg the day away on the couch. I tossed my cookies a few times due to the anesthesia, and really want some Strawberry Kefir to settle my stomach.

May 7, 2009-

I woke up at 1am in a lot of pain and failed at my countless attempts of opening my bottle of pain med’s. Child proofed sucks!

Plan today is to convince Tyler (my brother) to get me some Kefir… rest would be good too.

Final Notes-

I went under the knife again…. And kicked some serious ass!  Another surgery pulled off flawlessly!!

The River Bank Run this Saturday in Grand Rapids (Michigan) and my cause is simple- I’m doing this for Neurofibromatosis (NF), a genetic disorder that I live with. I’ve been doing the fulltime patient gig since the age of 7, with more than 20 surgeries under my belt and many more to come; it’s easy to lose sight of hope. This is where you have to keep your head high and keep on fighting. What I do sucks, but it’s crucial to never give up.

Check out my First Giving page for more information on the fight the cure NF.

http://www.firstgiving.com/jessicastone

All4aCause: All4NF

Peace, Love, Rock on!

Jessica Stone

I’m not sure what to call this but I needed to talk to someone… I just needed to write… I just needed to babble. When you read this think of me speaking in FAST FORWARD- thats pretty much how my thoughts run in my head these days.

Today I found a dress… this dress is definitely one of my best finds so far this year. It’s a black strapless that just falls over my knees… my little black dress… it may be better than sporting crimson lipstick… I actually look pretty silly in any lipstick other than nude, but a lapse in judgment occasionally happens and I resemble a child after eating a cherry flavored Tootsie-Pop. This dress makes me feel like I’m on fire. I wouldn’t say sexy, but wearing it does boost my confidence. My confidence … my ego… me… I’ve been struggling to get back to where I should be after everything that went down last year.

I’m still trying to get my feet wet in the dating scene; kind of hard to get back in the groove of things when my last serious relationship was over 3 years ago… I was hearing then and now this is a totally different ballpark… ugh- I really want to go to a White Sox game (♥ #37 Matt Thornton) Random baseball moment… Before I gave up my hearing I could hide the medical stuff. How the hell do you hide deafness when you meet someone?? You don’t.  I’m not deaf… sort of… I don’t like to define myself by if my ears work or not.  I have a bionic ear that is progressing everyday, and some days are really great while others are really… Well at least I’m not throwing my Cochlear Implant like a boomerang anymore. Nope, instead I just fall on it in Chicago! (Long story to that reference)

Back to this dating scene and my new found deafness- When I say this I’m sure I’m going to get some shit for it but oh well… it’s quite comical in all reality. *Laugh every now and again because life is funny* …Ever watch TV at 3am?? I choose to not watch TV, but I am usually awake writing till sunrise. Occasionally I’ll surf the web to get my YouTube fix- (I still think it’s pretty awesome that I have a channel on there.) Anyways back to watching TV at 3am- the infomercials always suck me in. “For just $19.95 plus shipping & handling…” I don’t own a Snuggies, but I have a few interesting souvenirs from being taken in by infomercials. I’m sure you are thinking- Jess, what does dating have to do with watching infomercials at 3am if you don’t watch TV??? Here’s why-

I was working on emails… yes at 3am, and there was an advertisement for one of those dating sites advertising next to my inbox, “to make love happen”…  or something like that. Let’s be honest- I’m going to be 24 next month and probably celebrating my birthday working… I’m not looking for love and I’ve never had a problem meeting men…Curiosity got the best of me and I clicked the advertisement. I mean come on people it is 2009 and if I’m hearing through advancements made in technology, well why not let myself be open to other ways of meeting men. Yup I joined the site out of curiosity. For the price tag that came with joining, these guys hopefully are of substance. So far it’s been interesting… I’ll leave it at that. I’m new to this whole deaf lifestyle and there isn’t a play book, so I’m just writing mine as I go. I’m consumed by my work and this “to make lust happen”… lust is a better word for it… this is actually convenience in my inbox. I guess to sum up the dating scene and me- I’m accepting resume’s… cover letters and 3 references’ is a must. Ha!

In other news- I’m having surgery on Wednesday. Having over 20 surgeries I should be used to saying that, but I’m not. To be honest I’m still scared shitless even at the thought of going under the knife, yet going under again. I can’t stand waking up and not eating breakfast first thing in the morning… it’s the best way to start off the day and instead I’ll be having a giant helping of anesthesia. This surgery isn’t like any on my surgery schedule last year. This will be a swoop surgery to remove tumors literally head to toe… I think we have 10 surgery sites… fingers crossed my doctor doesn’t attach a Mr. Potato-Head ear to my forehead (long story behind that reference). Whether I like it or not I’m doing surgery… what makes my heart sink a bit is I’m going to miss my Wednesday Pilates class.

I like to workout in the morning. Always been a swimmer, a trait I get from my mom. She swam in high school… my grandparents have a pool… not to mention I grew up next to Lake Michigan… you get my point. The lifeguard asked me last week… err- wrote me a note about joining the adult swim team. In all honesty, I’m a pretty good swimmer… I’m not taking the gold home anytime soon, but to be asked to join the swim team was pretty awesome.

At the gym I try to mix it up…Pilates, jumping rope, plyometrics, weights, the elliptical, and what I like to call The “Wow-My-Ass-Is-Going-To-Look-Cute-In-My-New-Green-Bikini-This-Summer-On-The-Beach” Machine… the ♥stair stepper♥.  I wouldn’t call myself a health freak, although I had an interesting search for a good vegetarian friendly protein shake. I’m health conscious and the gym is my refuge to release stress from writing and juggling every other obstacle going on in my life.

I just got into running this winter… yup on the treadmill but it’s a start. Whenever I start to run a quote from American Beauty pops in my head; I’m not going to say it, but if you’ve seen the movie and know the part when Kevin Spacey is running with his neighbor then you hit the nail on the head. Great mantra when you’re working out.

I didn’t think it was possible, but I wore my running shoes into nothing… I found a new pair of shoes today- they’re gray & white with a hint of highlighter red; coincidently I picked up a water bottle about the same shade. These shoes are on fire and when they touch the pavement… that’s when I’ll feel sexy.

I’d like to paint my room a different color… maybe red or yellow- something modern and a bit bold. The 3 shades of green with bed sheets to match are driving me nuts… kind of like the time I just had to have my room purple… For 3 years it looked like the Easter Bunny puked on my walls. I tend to get bored with my walls. I probably paint my room at least once a year… Who needs insulation when you have 20 shades of paint coating your walls??

I’d paint my room but I’m moving next weekend. I’m moving about 40 minutes away and I’m nervous. I have to switch gyms and it kind of saddens me because I really like my Pilates class and I like my routine… I’m not even sure what I have to do to switch gyms… hmm… I need to figure that out before Wednesday’s surgery… I’ll ask Sam.

Aside from a handful of friends and my siblings, I know no one. I don’t even know the city that well. I’ve spent so much time exploring different cities, but I haven’t taken the time to explore my backyard… my neighborhood… my home. Today I had to Google the city in hopes to find a Farmer’s Market and proposed the birthday gift idea of a GPS to my mom.

I’m not sure where I’m going with this other than I found a dress that gives me confidence and a pair of running shoes that I can’t wait to run in. I’m having surgery again… my birthday is coming up and I’m looking forward to it. Really I don’t need to rehash everything I just wrote… scroll up and read it again if you need the recap. I’m bettering myself and that is the bottom line. Because life inspires me-

My new shoe... the other is on my foot