Help battle the four horsemen with Brittany

hey y’all,

my name’s brittany. i’m 37 and chronically ill with multiple diseases that make living and “normal” life difficult. i know that normal is just a setting on the dryer, but sometimes it really sucks being sick. i’m not very good at asking for help, but before i go into detail about my illnesses, i want to explain exactly what help I’m asking for.

having bills taken care of will not only help take a financial burden off of me, but allow me time to heal after my latest brain surgery as i am unable to work. 

but now, let me introduce you to my chronic disease friends:

Charli is my Chiari Malformation. my brain is too big for my skull and part of my brain is leaking down my spinal canal. for me, Charli showed up as passing out, nausea, vomiting, vertigo, and a headache so bad i was wishing for a migraine. she was treated by having a 3-in-1 decompression surgery where my C1 vertebrae was shaved in half, a 1.5 inch circle of skull was removed, and a patch was placed over the hole to hold the brain in place

Ivy is my Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH). she creates too much cerebral spinal fluid in my brain requiring me to need a shunt to drain the excess fluid. Ivy, being an overachiever, actually requires me to have two shunts- one in my brain and one in my spine. Ivy is the reason for brain surgeries number 3 and 5-10. she likes to make trouble but her arch nemeses are thunderstorms and magnets.

Ender is my Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. lanky and uncoordinated, he likes to dislocate joints at night from simply sleeping and often trips over his own feet. lacking in collagen, his connective tissue is weak and unsteady causing complications with everything from wound healing to dislocations.

Gizmo is my OCD. he can’t be left alone or fed after midnight. he hates being exposed to the light. most think water would cause him to go crazy, but it works the opposite. water, especially the sea, calms Gizmo down enough to be able to use tools to overcome the panic.

Charli, Ivy, Ender, and Gizmo are now a steady part of my life. i walk with crutches and have leg braces that i sometime use. i’ve had 15 surgeries in 3 years with 10 being brain surgeries. there are many nights where i loathe these four horsemen but i am learning to live with them. it’s not easy, and often it’s quite lonely, but it’s making me stronger and a bigger bad ass. meet my friends, they make me strong.