Message from Jamie Holloway
For eleven years I have been learning to live well with chronic illness. It hasn’t been perfect. I haven’t always been successful at achieving my goals. It has been a chaotic, messy, learning experience that has made my life adventurous. I have learned a lot about how complicated, dangerous & even emotionally, spiritually & mentally draining living with several diagnoses is.
I am asked by my many doctors, nurses, caregivers, friends, family, strangers & store clerks how I have maintained my good attitude despite the many medical adventures, I have lived through, that might have left me feeling bitter, angry, broken & unforgiving. All I can say is, I made decisions & I followed through. One decision was to fight for me. Jesus fought for me so why shouldn’t I?
I also realized, I didn’t want my crawl through lifelong sickness, just for my own benefit. I wanted to be a wellness advocate & help those who are in the same predicament. I wanted to be one of the helpers that Mr. Roger’s speaks about. I do this by reminding myself that my attitude can help me navigate through the dark channels of chronic illness.
I am determined to say thank you to the doctors, nurses, caregivers, anyone who helps me. Showing gratitude reminds you that your life is not over just because you are sick. I say thank you & I mean it. I also decided that I didn’t want to become idle. I want to actually accomplish something, so I started writing.
I believe communicating my pain, needs, & being willing to listen as part of communication allows me to be able to be in a good relationship with my team. I have a good support system of family, friends, doctors, nurses, & caregivers who allow me to achieve many of the goals I have made. I am able to live in my home & able to keep on breathing, writing, reading & loving on my boy, Nicholas.
Since 2017 I have been an owner of Wellness Works NW. I serve as the Research Manager. I am a lead writer & my column is called Chasing Wellness.
Book Reviews
I love reading. This is one thing that keeps me busy and not feeling sorry for myself because I sometimes feel useless in my condition. I have enjoyed every book I have read, even if some of them weren’t my favorite. I enjoy the process of reading and reviewing books.
Read Jamie’s Latest Blog Posts…
97 Percent
“Every year 97 percent of your body is completely replaced, even the structure of your DNA in your genes, reconstructed entirely from the nutrients we eat. The quality of those nutrients determines the quality of your renewed cellular structure, the level of which it...
Updates And Other Things
I am happy to report that my doctor visit yesterday went well. I didn’t need any shots to my stoma this time. The doctor said “we dodged a bullet”. What he means by this is that when I got the staph infection like all infection inflammation arises to conquer the...
Starting Again!
I am writing this post while I am sitting in the TV room of my apartment. My neighbor is sitting with me and I am once again encouraged. Last night I dreamt about Rick again. I hate when I do that it means I am taking memories out of the filing cabinet of my...
Day 29: Inspiration
I have not been a part of the WEGO challenge this month. I got a late start. Things that I truly like about myself… What a question, I will do my best to answer this question. 1) I am stubborn. Usually people don’t see this as a good quality, but to me it is an...
Verdure
Wonderful ideas about how to cook many different types of vegetables Italian style and I thoroughly enjoyed reading the recipes. The recipes wetted my appetite and my passion to cook more with them. One of the things that kind of threw me for a loop was...
Day 27: Writing
If you wrote a book about your life, your community, your condition, or your Health Activism – what would you title it? What about your biography? I have had this vision of writing a book for a long time. Why am I not writing? Fear, thinking to myself what in...
Day 26: Pain Free Pass
What’s a day that you wish you could have used a pain-free pass (either in the future or the past)? How would being pain or worry-free impact that day? If I were to get a golden ticket of not having to wear my trach, not having to sound like dark Vader, not...
Back To Myself
I am finally feeling back to normal. Though I do have tinges of feeling sore and of course my inflammation is not down. My sleeping schedule is back on my track. Sleep allows me to have the energy to wash my dishes, to journal, shower, and basically take care of...
Directing Your Destiny
A book full of tools to help one manifest their dreams. I thoroughly enjoyed reading every page. A few of the tools I walked away were: What, How, When tool. The what, how, when tool is a concept where you write out your intention, then you explain one step...
Day 23: Technology
“I wish this gizmo could track my condition!” It seems like every day there is a new device, website, application, or program that is implemented to help you track and hopefully improve your health. Easier said than done when it comes down to the reality of...