about me

I am forty-something, born and raised in Virginia. I went to Virginia Tech initially majoring in art, but realizing my passion for art wasn’t enough for it to sustain me. So I switched to Biology, having grand notions of working on bolstering wolf populations in Yellowstone or other reserves. I knew I never wanted to have a “desk job” and would rather be hands-on in my career.

After graduating, I got a job at an animal hospital to make ends meet until that loftier goal could be established. While working there, they said I’d make a great veterinary technician and urged me to get licensed. So I did, figuring it’d bring in more money, and it did. I got my license in 2001 and have been working as a LVT ever since.

I met my husband in a MMO video game (Lord of the Rings Online, if you ‘re curious) and we have been happily married (IRL, if you were uncertain) since 2015. He is a licensed pharmacy technician. We live in a tiny town outside of Northern Virginia with three cats: WarBoy (we call him Nux), Toast, and Pear Bear. We still play video games often, together some times, solo others.

 

In 2011, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. My doctor had recommended I start getting regular mammograms early as I had a family history of breast cancer. My very first mammogram caught the 0.5 cm spot of early cancer that hadn’t been previously detectable through self-exams. I had lumpectomy surgery and a revision to get clean margins. Then 6 weeks of radiation. I have been in remission ever since.

 

In 2015 I was training for the Susan G. Komen 2-Day Walk for Breast Cancer but found that I couldn’t continue the training. I just couldn’t walk properly for more than 6 miles. Fast forward to 2016 and I developed eye pain in my left eye that felt like a strained muscle. While at work one day after a week of the pain, I noticed my vision was altered. With my left eye, my vision seemed as if I were looking through dirty dishwater, but only the bottom half!

It was a Saturday, but I found an eye doctor that was open. I was told they had an ophthalmologist on staff, but when I went in, I could only see the optometrist. He ran some tests and would confer with the ophthalmologist on the phone. Then he ran more tests at the ophthalmologists suggestion. One more call to the ophthalmologist and the optometrist came back into the room, holding out a written prescription with a shaking hand. The prescription read “STAT MRI of the brain.”

I don’t know how I was able to drive myself the 30 minutes home through the dilated eyes, tears, and panic. My husband worked at the hospital and because he’s awesome, he came home to pick me up and bring me back to the hospital.

That evening, I was admitted to the ER after the initial MRI. After three nights in the hospital getting IV steroids and two more MRIs, I was finally diagnosed with optic neuritis secondary to Multiple Sclerosis.

I learned as much as I could about the disease and it’s symptoms. Looking back, I realized that some health concerns I had way back in my early college years were likely symptoms of the MS. I had tried to get those concerns worked up, but was waived off by the doctors since the symptoms weren’t continuous or reproduceable.

 

Remember that whole “no desk job” and “hands-on career” thing I promised myself? Working as an LVT went well enough for the first 17 years, but once the MS reared it’s ugly head, standing on my feet for 10 hour shifts for 4 days a week wasn’t possible. Rather than finding a new job on a different career path, I chose to stay with my current employer, but in an administrative capacity (translation: desk job).

I still keep my license active and even occasionally get summoned to the ER on busy days to place an IV catheter or that always difficult urinary catheter on a female dog. It keeps my skills sharp and it’s nice to know I’ve “still got it.”

Nowadays, it could be my age or the constant, draining fatigue from the MS but I’m looking forward to retirement. I’ve still got about a decade to wait, but it’s more welcome now than it has ever been.

In my spare time, I look for new games to play or recipes to try or projects to take on. I have been an apiarist (beekeeper), homebrewer, and small business-owner, among other things. But there’s always something that cancels out every venture I take on. Be it the HOA that won’t let me keep bees in my backyard, the failure of my muscles to lift 5-gallon brew kettles, my lack of fine motor control of my hands to create the chainmaille jewelry I used to sell.

Video games are what I rely on now. And of course my husband. He’s been amazing and supportive through all of this. My cats are a source of delight as well. From the destruction of the new carpet we installed in our house to the cozy warmth of a cat sleeping on my lap, I wouldn’t trade them for the world.

I feel like I’ve been through a lot. I feel like I’ve done a lot. And so I feel like I am knowledgeable about these things and many more. So this website is my outlet to share all the crazy but interesting things I’ve done in my life, as well as the attempts at continuing them from time to time. I’m hoping it’s enough to inspire a positive change in just one person’s life.