February | 2017 | Joezette's Journey: My Everyday Walk With Lupus

I honestly believe that people suffering with invisible diseases are the best actors. I can only speak to my experience, but 99% of my day is spent acting. Considering that I work with 24 hyperactive 4th graders Monday through Friday (7:30-4:30), I am ALWAYS EXHAUSTED.

“Morning Joe! How’re you?!”

(“Do I say that I feel terrible and just want to go home?”)

“I’m well! How’re you?!

(“Lie…”)

By the time Friday evening comes, I have an extremely difficult time thinking of anything other than hitting my bed. This feeling usually doesn’t go away. More recently, any time that I have off from work is spent sleeping—and I don’t mean taking a cat nap. I often come home around 5-6pm on Friday and sleep until 12am. Then I’ll go back to bed within the next 2 hours and wake up at 6am to feed and walk my pup…

Following Casper’s walk I may or may not take a moment to eat—I usually make a cup of tea and just go right back to bed until 1-2pm. I’m sure you get the point. This is the best picture of my weekends that I can paint for you. Occasionally I’ll feel some motivation to go out to dinner, but that motivation often fades within a few hours. Because of this, I also have a hard time making plans. Why be a flake when you can just not commit?

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So I finally made the decision to start a blog that showcases my everyday struggles with Lupus. It’s definitely been a long time coming, and while I am a bit nervous to communicate my ups and downs, I KNOW that there are Lupies out there just like me that perhaps just need some encouragement every now and then, someone to talk to, or maybe even some updated information on Lupus research.

Any who, here’s a bit about my history with SLE (Systemic Lupus Erythematosus). During the fall semester of 2009 (I can’t believe its been that long), I began to feel consistently sick. It seemed that I’d caught the flu and was just not recovering from it. On top of feeling ill, I slowly began to develop joint pains. Over the course of 7 months, I got progressively worse–I was ALWAYS tired, I needed help doing everything from walking up and down stairs to getting dressed, and at 5’8 and 117 pounds, I was severely underweight.

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