Video | Life Lately: End of Summer Check-in

It’s been one year since my last Life Lately update and nine months since my last blog post. (Not counting the updates I make to my Disneyland travel guide. 😝)

A lot has happened since my last update. We lost a couple of friends and family members, I got my wisdom teeth removed, I found a breast lump and had a mammogram, and I’ve been dealing with some ongoing health that have triggered my health anxiety to a whole new level. I also celebrated my 32nd birthday, and I’ll share some exciting travel plans we have coming up.

I’ve been wanting to write this update for a couple of months but was becoming more and more discouraged as the “bad stuff” kept piling on. I’ve mentioned before that journaling is a helpful tool for me to release stress and anxiety, so here’s my end-of-summer check-in and what I’ve been up to the last few months.

Related: Life Lately: September 2022

Birthday Celebration

Let’s start with some good news: In August, I celebrated my 32nd birthday! Me and Angel usually visit Disneyland for my birthday, but this year, I decided I wanted to stay home. I took off from work for the week, and I did some much-needed self-care and indulging. Unfortunately, we got sick with the stomach flu toward the end of our time off, but I’m glad we both got to spend some much-needed quality time together.

Living with Grief

I’ve talked a lot about grief on the blog and on my Instagram. It’s become a feeling I’m no longer afraid to feel, and it’s taught me that it’s okay to let that feeling be. When Angel’s grandma’s health took a turn for the worse at the end of last year, I prepared myself to grieve in a different way. One that allowed me to grieve the loss of my grandmother-in-law but also to hold space for my husband’s grief.

I met Angel’s grandma for the first time in 2014 or 2015. Angel and I had already been dating for about five years, and I remember feeling nervous because I knew how important his grandma was to him. We met her at her favorite Mexican restaurant, a small, dark place with green wooden chairs and some of the best Mexican food I ever ate. She was eating eggs with nopales (cactus leaves) when she asked me if I had ever eaten cactus before. This memory of her is one of my favorites because it was the first time I tried nopales, and now it’s one of my favorite sides to eat.

Angel’s grandma was always so kind and welcoming to me, and I believed she loved me like her own. She reminded me of my Nana; I like to think they’re both watching over us from heaven.

In April, I lost a dear friend suddenly, and her passing rocked me to my core. Her sudden death reminded me of the day I found out my Nana died, and it triggered those same feelings. We recently went to her celebration of life, and it was there I was reminded of how she lived life to the fullest. I will miss her friendship, especially her boisterous and contagious laugh. I don’t do well at funerals, but I’m glad I went and said goodbye.

June was my Nana’s two-year death anniversary, and the feelings I felt remembering her felt just as strong as the day I found out we lost her. I actually forgot the actual day she passed, and when I realized what day it was, the floodgates opened immediately. I’ve learned so much about grief over the last couple of years. One of my favorite sayings is, “Your heart never stops grieving, it expands around the grief, and you learn to live with it.” So true. When I think of that saying, I’m reminded of how much I’ve grown since she’s passed. How much life I lived since that day. Grief doesn’t go away, but it does get easier to navigate when you let yourself feel all the feels. She visited me in my dreams earlier this week, and it made me feel warm inside. Not a day goes by when I don’t think of her. I miss her and the way she loved me and her toothy smile so much.

Related: Life Lately June 2021: Navigating Life After Loss

Prioritizing Health

This year has turned into the year I prioritize my health. I’ve always been health-conscious due to my health anxiety, but my ailments this year have taken me and my hypochondria to a new level.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this update, I finally got my wisdom teeth removed. I was always told by previous dentists that I didn’t need to get them removed if they didn’t bother me. When I started seeing a new dentist, she made it her mission to get me to remove my wisdom teeth. So, I did, and it is not something I recommend for people aged 30 and up. Let’s just say there were a lot of miscommunications between me, my dentist, and the oral surgeon. One was that I was under the impression I was only having two wisdom teeth removed, but I later learned it was four on the day of the surgery. 😩 I was a nervous wreck about being put under for surgery, and when I was told I would be awake for the entire procedure, I had a minor anxiety attack. Thankfully, they administered laughing gas to me, which does not make you laugh despite the name, but it does help to calm you down. I’m just glad it’s over, and I wish I had done it sooner for faster healing purposes.

About a month after we returned from attending Angel’s grandma’s funeral in California, I had a UTI. Then, shortly after that, I found a breast lump while performing my monthly self-breast examination. This wasn’t the first time I found a breast lump. I found one in the same breast in 2013 and was relieved to learn that it wasn’t breast cancer but fibrocystic breast tissue, which many things can cause, but for me, it was caffeine.

I had been good at managing my caffeine intake to less than eight ounces per day, so I was surprised to find a lump when I rarely drink caffeinated drinks. I saw my OB/GYN, who referred me for a diagnostic mammogram (recommended for people with breasts over age 30). It was a long wait between the time I saw my OB/GYN and when I had the mammogram, which made me feel stressed. But as the appointment got closer, I had a feeling that everything would work out, and it did. My mammogram came back with a clean bill of health, and after discussing the results with my OB/GYN, I learned that long-term stress can also cause fibrocystic breasts. Considering all that I had experienced prior to finding the breast lump, this made sense to me, and it’s when I started to prioritize my health.

I wasn’t sure how much of this next health issue I wanted to share, but I talked to a friend about it recently, and it was nice to connect with someone about it. So here it goes… I had hemorrhoids. I feel so embarrassed sharing this, but I wish I had someone to talk to while going through this.

I was experiencing bleeding while pooping off and on for about three months between September last year through June of this year, and it scared — for lack of better words — the shit out of me. 💩 I think I would’ve been able to sort it out sooner if my primary care provider had taken my inquiries about it a little more seriously, but we all know how sketchy the American health system is. When my PCP finally referred me to a gastroenterologist, he helped me kick my symptoms to the curb in a month with a plan I was comfortable with. I’ve learned so much about hemorrhoids and how to manage them. Did you know that sitting for the toilet for long periods of time can cause hemorrhoids?I didn’t until my doctor confirmed it for me. Also, increasing your fiber and water intake and being mindful of your toilet time can make a huge difference in your hemorrhoids.

I have one more appointment to attend tomorrow to confirm all is well, so please send me all the good health and healing vibes.

If you made it to the end of this blog post, thank you for catching up with me! I’m happy to finally check this blog post off my to-do list. I hope going through this routine again will inspire me to keep up with blogging and vlogging until the end of the year and beyond. *fingers crossed* Sign up for my newsletter to stay connected to the latest news and updates from Livin’ La Vida Orozco!