Today is my one-year Blogiversary! Part of me can’t believe I’ve managed to keep it going but the realistic side of me isn’t surprised given the events of the past year.

So I guess it’s time to tell the origin story, because I don’t think anyone really knows it.

Life was not going well for me last year, especially around this particular time last year. I had already suffered through most of 2014 with endometriosis, but 2016 had it in for me in a big way. For those of you who are newer to my blog and aren’t familiar with the medical difficulties I faced in 2016, I’ll make it easy for you, in order of appearance:

• Infertility
• Depression
• Migraines
• Brain tumor (prolactinoma)
• A third pelvic surgery
• Aneurysm
• Brain surgery
• Aneurysm stenting
• Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS)

As of where I was in all that mess at this time a year ago, I was awaiting my pelvic surgery. My life was downright miserable due to the medications used to treat my brain tumor and it was decided to take me off the medication and see a neurosurgeon.

Just before this, due to the amount of work I was missing because of my intolerable symptoms, I went on extended medical leave intended to last through the first week of August (at that time), planning on returning to work when I was recovered from my pelvic surgery.

The last week of June, when the decision to go on medical leave was made, I was in a bad place mentally. According to my personal journals, on June 24th, one of my co-workers suggested that I start a blog. I looked into it and was really confused and overwhelmed.

I don’t want to do anything professional with it, I just want to write and raise awareness about various things. But I don’t even know basic things, like what I would call it or what I would write about. I’d want to raise awareness for my medical conditions, but what else would I write about? What would the point be? What am I going to write about and who is going to read it?

Finally, early in the morning on July 1st, I took the plunge and published a tiny little introductory post. But I spent the rest of the day contemplating what to write about next.

Now that I’ve got one entry under my belt, I’m conversely almost too scared to write another one. That’s the social anxiety talking, of course. It really shouldn’t matter to me who reads my blog and who doesn’t. I just don’t want people to stumble upon it and be like, “This is the worst blog I’ve ever read.”

And I really, really want it to help people. I want to share my story in such a way that people either understand these disease states more or have compassion towards those who do. I just want to encourage people and help people with my story. I don’t know how I’m really going to do that, though.

And since it had such a drastic impact on my life, my next several entries, truly my inaugural blog posts, shared the story of my battle with endometriosis.

Fast forward.

Have I achieved my goal?

Well, I’m not entirely happy with how this first year has gone. I know I write about a lot of different things, but I’m trying to raise as much awareness as possible. After all, I have a lot of chronic illnesses!

I guess I was just hoping to make more of an impact.

So as a public service announcement: my blog will be more accessible (meaning, more visible for people who are looking for information and/or support about these illnesses) if people will follow my blog. I know the vast majority of you read my posts on Facebook. But in all seriousness, if you find the information on my blog valuable and want to help others find my blog, please go to the About page, find where it says “Follow Blog Via Email,” and sign up! You will not be spammed and you will receive an email only when I post. Truly, I’m not saying this because I’m greedy and want more followers. I just want to help people.

But even though numbers don’t really mean much, let’s examine the numbers, so a year from now I can look back and see how my little blog has grown!

• Number of posts: 266
• Number of hits: 55,435
• Number of followers: 310
• First follower: snowdroplets
• Most popular post: Pelvic Pain Beyond Endo (6,334 hits)
• Total number of countries that have visited the blog: 128
• Country with the most visits (excluding the U.S.): Australia (5,655 visits)

The greatest thing about all of this, though? All the people I’ve “met” and the support they’ve given me, even though we don’t know each other. I’ve received more support from complete strangers than from some friends and family. And that speaks volumes.

So here’s to one year of blogging. Happy Birthday, little one.

?ribbonrx