I’m engaged to my high school sweetheart … well technically we never dated while we were in high school and we didn’t even know each other. It’s funny because looking back at old photos, Orlando (my fiancé) remembers my friends and I remember his friends, yet it took us 10 years and a dating app to meet.

I’m a dog mom to a 2-year-old Malshi named Gizmo. We were told that he’s a Malshi (Maltese Shitzu) but he looks nothing like a typical Malshi so we joke (half-seriously) that he’s part pitbull, pomeranian, corgi, and Shih Tzu.

I currently work at a cancer hospital as a Research Project Specialist (one good thing to come out of COVID is that I now work permanently remote).

In my free time, you are likely to catch me eating, running, taking photos, painting, eating again, singing karaoke (which is typically off-tune so I apologize to anyone who has ever heard me sing), or spending time with my loved ones.

Oh and when I was 17, I was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus (aka lupus).

Ok you might be thinking… wow that escalated quickly. I figured why beat around the bush when I can just jump to the point of why I started this blog.

Since being diagnosed, at one point or another, lupus has affected my brain, lungs, heart, blood, joints, muscles, skin, heart, and eyes — and that’s not even counting the side effects I’ve had to deal with as a result of all my different medications. I’ve had to visit the emergency room a few times and I’ve had to spend multiple days in the hospital recovering from a flare.

So you may have done the math… if she was diagnosed at 17 and is now 32, she has 15 years of experience living with lupus, which probably means she’s pretty much figured it out.

Wrong.

I’ve definitely come a long way since the days I was first diagnosed. I’ve learned a lot along the way and I continue to learn something new all the time but I’m only now feeling like I’ve finally regained a sense of control over my health.

My Journey With Lupus

When you are diagnosed with lupus (or any chronic disease), you question whether you’ll ever live a normal life again but I think you can. It might not be the normal you had pre-lupus, but I think it’s possible to find your way to a post-lupus new normal (besides, who gets to decide what’s “normal”).

When I started this blog, I really wanted to make a positive impact on the lupus community. I had hopes that this blog would serve as an inspiration to my fellow lupies and initially I started to blog about my past experiences so that others could learn from me. It turned out that this involved a lot more personal reflection on my condition and it got to the point where my life was becoming just about lupus. And that’s exactly the opposite of what I wanted to show people. Since then I’ve decided that instead of focusing on my condition, this blog would focus around my new normal which is where my “loopholes” come in.

To me, a loophole is something I’ve incorporated into my life that brings me joy and has a positive impact. It’s something that allows me to feel like I’m living my normal. In the past that was running but after a recent flare that’s lasted months (and affected my ability to do physical exercise), I switched things up and got involved with photography and crotchet.

Having lupus means you need to learn to adapt and maybe that’s what this blog is really about. Adapting.

I hope you’ll follow me on my journey of learning to live with lupus (whatever that might look like).

Keeping you in the Loop

Disclaimer: I have many years of experience living with lupus but I am by no means a medical professional. Lupus affects each person differently and what works for me, might not work for you. Always speak to a medical professional before trying anything new.