Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Change in course

While a re-charge was certainly in order after completing the anthropologie order earlier this year, I hadn't planned on one lasting months. Today in fact my family and I were suppose to arrive at the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean via royal mail ship, a trip we had been planning for well over a year. It was heart breaking to have to cancel the trip.

The view looking west across the South Atlantic when we were on Saint Helena in 2013.
But after an emergency trip to the hospital in March, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. And although I'm undergoing treatment, and the endocrinologist says she feels I'm in a good position to go into remission, the recovery time frame could very likely stretch into next March. And since I am still symptomatic (irregular heart rhythm, anxiety, muscle atrophy, sore joints) it was decided that the rigors of getting to Saint Helena (24 hr. flight to Cape Town followed by 5 days at sea), not to mention being on an isolated island without specialist doctors for 4 weeks, probably was not the best course of action. Clearly we are just not suppose to go this year but oh, how sad that makes me.

Hiking to distant cottage in 2013.
We had planned and planned. We were scheduled to volunteer at SHAPE; I was going to be helping develop new jewelry designs  and we were going to visit with friends we haven't seen since 2013. And now instead here I am, adjusting to the fact that, in all likelihood, I will be managing a disease for the rest of my life.

I'm currently working on beads made from recycled paper made at SHAPE. 

The decision was made that if stress reduction was an important part of me getting to remission, we'd do one of the things we knew had worked for all of us in the past - head to the Maine coast and stay for as long as we could. So we're packing up - painting supplies, kayaks, sailboat and all - and leaving this Saturday,  to "take the waters" as it were.

I'll be posting on Instagram if you're interested (@gwilliamson).

On a business note…the shop will stay open June 20-July 20 but orders will not ship until July 20, when we return. If you place an order by this Thursday it will ship Friday. It you've already placed an order it will ship Friday.

14 comments:

  1. Oh Genevieve, I'm so sorry to hear you had to cancel your wonderful trip. That is so stressful in and of itself. I love when doctors say to avoid stress….easier said than done. Hang in there and try to de-stress by creating. Sending positive vibes!

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    1. You are so very right Marlene!
      Thanks so much for your support - it means a lot to me!

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  2. So sorry to hear you had to cancel your trip. It was fascinating to read about it last year. But, those auto immune diseases are no joke, so do whatever you can to be healthy. Where in Maine will you be? Anywhere near Little Cranberry Island? Maine is my home and I think it is a great place to relieve stress. Good luck!

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    1. Thank you Barb - I am quite concentrated on being healthy!

      We'll be staying further south - 2 weeks on Linekin Bay and 2 weeks in Friendship.

      Do you still go back to Little CranberryIsland? We consider staying on one of the islands but all things considered we thought mainland put us even closer to a hospital IF I should need it.

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    2. I actually live on Little Cranberry year-round. Have been here for 38 years. The only time I moved off was when our sons were in High School. Then we lived in NE Harbor for the school year.
      You'll be staying in beautiful places. I hope it helps take away some of the disappointment of missing Saint Helena.

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    3. Oh I misunderstood! I've really wanted to get to Little Cranberry. We stayed on Matinicus a few years ago - after our first trip to St. Helena which made it feel not so very far out to see in comparison. We've also stayed on the most remote (using remote sort of lightly here) island in the Chesapeake Bay and its quite amazing to see the similarities.
      We'd especially like to learn more about the Island Institute and how the islands of ME work cooperatively because I think this learning would be helpful to St. Helena.

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    4. Well, if you ever come up this way, I would be happy to show you around the island. It would be nice to meet you. The Island Institute puts out a nice little newspaper that gives a flavor of island issues. (http://www.islandinstitute.org/working-waterfront) I just put the link in there, but your spam filter might edit out my comment because it has the link. They have also done a wonderful job linking the outer island schools through a program called the Teaching and Learning Collaborative. Students from our island connect all the time via computer with students from other islands. Oh, I could go on and on about island living. I really love where I live.

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  3. Much love darling Gen. May this be a time of deep restoration, recovery and renewal. Wendy xxx

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    1. Thank you Wendy! Hope your move is going well!

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  4. Dear Genevieve, sending lots of positive thoughts and love from Russia!

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  5. Here's hoping that the course the illness takes is remarkably, astonishingly mild, and you astonish your doctors and everyone else around you, starting with yourself, with your fabulously hearty health and happiness.

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    1. Thanks so much Ronna! Its going to require some patience on my part but I am hopeful.

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  6. Gen, I was sorry to hear about your trip and Grave's disease. It looks like you've been having a wonderful Maine vacation. I'm hoping you're feeling much, much better.

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    1. Thanks Lynn! Maine was wonderful as always and I am slowly headed toward remission (hopefully). Symptoms are lagging behind the blood results just a bit but I am starting to actually feel better. Its made me realize that I was probably sick well before the diagnosis.

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