Two weeks ago I had my PowerPort removed.

What does a PowerPort do?

Why did I have one?

Why are they useful?

Having a port has been very handy. This was my 2nd port. However, because of my new clotting disorder, my body can't tolerate a port.

What will happen with my treatment not that I don't have a port?

Do you take Rituxan/Rituximab? What's your dosing schedule?

I'm not yet out of the woods for the possibility of blood clots, but I hope to remain clot free.

On Friday I'm having surgery.

I'm having a PowerPort removed that we've never used. This is the port that brought blood clots and emergency surgery at the end of the summer.

I'm nervous about the outcome of the surgery.

I'm eager to have the device out.

I'm celebrating my 25th anniversary with my wife this week.

Today I'm talking about my bisexual identity.

What is bisexuality? What is pansexuality?

Why is it important to come out?

Bisexuals in long term relationships are often invisible because they appear to be either straight or gay.

Having found a loving, generous, partner who will walk by my side in the midst of tremendous hardship is humbling.

If you are lucky enough to have a loving partner, be sure to tell one another how much you are grateful for one another.

Do you have high stakes appointments?

Ones where you're predicting or waiting for bad news or hard diagnoses?

I have a team of doctors I see in Seattle who monitor my lung disease. We typically see them every 3-5 months. It's now been a year (because of COVID).

With mounting anxiety, lousy sleep, and a fear of what the tests might find, we headed up.

Do you have terminal or life threatening condition that has to be monitored?

How do you manage these high stakes appointments?

How does chronic illness impact having a future?

When life is the same day after day after day, it takes a cumulative toll.

What happens when illness takes us in our prime?

My peers are celebrating milestones and I don't get to join in.

It's difficult to not bend toward despair.

How do you grieve the future you won't live?

I'm Annette Leonard, speaker, coach, and sick person who believes that my illnesses do not define me. If health is the absence of disease and wellness is the presence of wholeness, then no matter what your disease status, we can work toward your wellness, your wholeness.

Whether or not you are ever "healthy" on paper, you can be well. Join me and others on the path back to wholeness at AnnetteLeonard.com. Whether you are a person experiencing chronic illness or are someone who loves or serves people with chronic illness I have great resources here on this channel or on my website for you.

What does it mean to not have a future to look forward to?

How do I reconcile this moment to moment?

What does this mean for those closest to us?

Having been sick for close to half of our relationship, my heart breaks for the life my wife doesn't get to live.

How lucky I am to have someone to bear this chronic life with me, and yet, it's hard to not feel like I'm tanking her future.

How do you reconcile these losses with your loved ones?

I'm Annette Leonard, speaker, coach, and sick person who believes that my illnesses do not define me. If health is the absence of disease and wellness is the presence of wholeness, then no matter what your disease status, we can work toward your wellness, your wholeness.

Whether or not you are ever "healthy" on paper, you can be well. Join me and others on the path back to wholeness at AnnetteLeonard.com. Whether you are a person experiencing chronic illness or are someone who loves or serves people with chronic illness I have great resources here on this channel or on my website for you.

This is the day after MLK day.

Chronic illness impacts BIPOC at a rate 2 and half times more frequent than those of us who are white.

That is an OFFENSIVE statistic an there are many contributors to that reality.

White supremacy and the stress-disease are chief reasons these statistics are so abysmal.

What can be done? As a white person -- what can I/we do to make change in this area?

Talk to other white people about this, talk to your doctors, read this article:

https://themighty.com/2020/06/white-people-fight-systemic-racism-health-care/

Sound off in the comments about what you're doing to make change!

I'm Annette Leonard, speaker, coach, and sick person who believes that my illnesses do not define me. If health is the absence of disease and wellness is the presence of wholeness, then no matter what your disease status, we can work toward your wellness, your wholeness.

Whether or not you are ever "healthy" on paper, you can be well. Join me and others on the path back to wholeness at AnnetteLeonard.com. Whether you are a person experiencing chronic illness or are someone who loves or serves people with chronic illness I have great resources here on this channel or on my website for you.

Happy 2021!

Are you making resolutions?

I am seeking clarity this year -- particularly as it relates to my health.

How can I become a content expert in myself and my disease?

Here's how it served me recently to be knowledgeable about my illnesses and my medical history.

No one will advocate for me as hard as I will fight for me.

Know your body and your illnesses, that's my pro-tip.

What stories of triumph or challenge do you have about being a professional patient?

I'm Annette Leonard, speaker, coach, and sick person who believes that my illnesses do not define me. If health is the absence of disease and wellness is the presence of wholeness, then no matter what your disease status, we can work toward your wellness, your wholeness.

Whether or not you are ever "healthy" on paper, you can be well. Join me and others on the path back to wholeness at AnnetteLeonard.com. Whether you are a person experiencing chronic illness or are someone who loves or serves people with chronic illness I have great resources here on this channel or on my website for you.

When quarantining from my wife, it seemed like everything went wrong.

What happens when you combine a confirmed COVID exposure, with the smoke alarm going off, with a 14 foot ladder, and poor decision making under stress?

Tears.

Why would First Alert make their Carbon Monoxide detectors so hard to read?

Here's a glimpse into my life that demonstrates the fact that I don't make good decisions while under stress.

I'm Annette Leonard, speaker, coach, and sick person who believes that my illnesses do not define me. If health is the absence of disease and wellness is the presence of wholeness, then no matter what your disease status, we can work toward your wellness, your wholeness.

Whether or not you are ever "healthy" on paper, you can be well. Join me and others on the path back to wholeness at AnnetteLeonard.com. Whether you are a person experiencing chronic illness or are someone who loves or serves people with chronic illness I have great resources here on this channel or on my website for you.

Why is receiving so difficult?

Where independence is so prized, it is difficult to be someone who is dependent upon others to meet my needs.

Having needs does not make me needy.

What if the best gift I can give someone is the opportunity to help me?

I'm Annette Leonard, speaker, coach, and sick person who believes that my illnesses do not define me. If health is the absence of disease and wellness is the presence of wholeness, then no matter what your disease status, we can work toward your wellness, your wholeness.

Whether or not you are ever "healthy" on paper, you can be well. Join me and others on the path back to wholeness at AnnetteLeonard.com. Whether you are a person experiencing chronic illness or are someone who loves or serves people with chronic illness I have great resources here on this channel or on my website for you.