The last five years have been very difficult with my health,
in addition to grieving the loss of both my mother and father, and battling an
eating disorder and depression. This
retired genesis dangle can be seen to represent the womb with a growing fetus,
and for me it is very significant. This is the beginning of my “Treasured
Hearts” bracelet.
In 2009 I started to experience uterine hemorrhaging so
severe that it was incapacitating. It
was very isolating for me and I was not getting any exercise, both of which
wreak havoc with depression. This went
on for two years and my iron got lower and lower, I got weaker and weaker, and
more and more tired, while my fitness level and mood kept falling. I could barely walk up the most gentle slope.
After two years of procedures, including ultrasounds and
numerous biopsies, it was discovered that I had developed a condition, similar
to endometriosis, where the lining of the uterus grows INTO the wall of the
uterus, causing pain and severe bleeding.
At the same time that all this was happening I developed a
DVT (deep vein thrombosis) – a blood clot – and had to immediately go on blood
thinners. It was pretty scary because a blood clot can travel to your lungs,
heart or brain. And the reason people get
blood clots, usually, is bed rest, surgery, a broken bone, or cancer – and
since I hadn’t had a broken bone or surgery they had to investigate
cancer. And of course having
hemorrhaging and being on blood thinners was a bad combo.
It turns out that the DVT was due to an autoimmune
condition, similar to Lupus, which increases the risk of blood clots in both
veins and arteries – so I will be on blood thinners indefinitely. This condition is one of the causes of multiple
miscarriages in some women, and with it I would not be able to have
children. Luckily I already have
11-year-old boy-girl twins and was quite content to stop there. So this genesis dangle for me represents my
gratitude for my “girlie parts”!
Gratitude for coming through these health challenges with all my parts
intact, even if I am done with them, thank you very much. And of course gratitude to this “belly” which
allowed me to carry my two “treasured hearts” for 38 weeks!
