Just Keep Swimming!

      So lately things have been pretty stinkin' crazy in my life. I recently got accepted into the Respiratory Therapy program at my school. This all happened rather suddenly...I mean totally suddenly. I walked into an appointment with an advisor intending to ask her about the program, and walked out starting the program the next day...with the hubby's approval of course :) So that really threw me for a loop and for about a week I was feeling like I was a fish out of water trying to get used to the program and catching up to the level that the other people in the program are at. On top of that, I have to juggle my job on campus, my apartment, and find time to spend with my hubby. I do this all very happily because I love keeping my apartment clean and spending time with my hubby, and my job is stressful at times but can be very rewarding at the same time. So like I was saying, I felt like a fish out of water for about a week and on some days, I felt like I was a fish who was about to drown. And one day, I was thinking about how exhausted I was and the quote from Finding Nemo where Dory is like "Just keep swimming...just keep swimming", you know the rest, popped into my head. It at first made me smile because that is such a cute movie and I love that quote, but it inspired me too. There is a reason I was accepted into the RT program the way that I was, and it is rough, and difficult, and exhausting, but it it TOTALLY worth it and I LOVE every second of it.
        What does this have to do with TS? It has a lot to do with TS in my opinion. I choose not to let my diagnosis of Turners get me down. I have issues with math sometimes, but that's just me and I have come to learn to live with it. I feel that if we let the fact that we have Turners define us, we won't be able to reach our full potentials. I think one of the critical things about the diagnosis of TS, especially when you are first diagnosed, is to not let that define you and your relationships like I did. I really let TS affect me socially for a while when I was first diagnosed, and I am STILL getting over those hurdles I put up for myself and that effects how I approach going into a patient's room when I do clinicals and it can really make me seem insincere and kind of like a robot when I am dealing with them if I'm not carefully paying attention to my every interaction with them.
        So the moral of this story? Don't put hurdles up for yourself just because you have Turner Syndrome (trust me, you will regret it!), learn to embrace it, learn to love it and how it affects your life and the lives of those around you that you touch everyday. I know it is hard, believe me, I know it is, but putting hurdles up for yourself just makes it harder to become the amazing, wonderful woman that you can be! So my TS sisters, "just keep swimming!" and remember, that when it feels impossible to swim and keep going, it gets easier and you have help, there are so many people around you who are willing to help you and give you support. The key is you just have to LET them, and be willing to ask for help and support when you need it.