Hi all!

I know, I’ve been the WORST with updating my blog. I found out that I’ll be starting work soon, so I’ve been busy with getting excited for that. ;)

If you aren’t sick of my story yet, I wrote an article for EMNews … you can read it here.

Also … The Philadelphia Inquirer recently did an interview with UPenn social workers, my friend Caitlyn, and me. In this piece, we talk about the importance of mental health before, during, and after transplant. People keep saying that I’ve had a good outlook on it all, and that I’ve been [ridiculously] positive. I do think that when life throws something [ridiculously] crazy at you, you only then realize how strong you truly are to overcome it; your mindset matters. Thanks to therapy, introspection, mindfulness, understanding the importance of emotional health, and (oh yeah) maybe my Bachelor’s degree in Psychobiology … I am where I am today.

And lastly, one of my blogposts about my feelings toward my own mortality was published in The DO. You can read it here (or just scroll down ;) lol).

I will soon start blogging about my life after transplant and how hilarious, heartwarming, difficult (but do-able) this all has been. Can’t wait.

Thanks for all of your support, everyone. Can’t believe it’s been almost five months!

P.S. I was thinking about this recently .. it’s been very hard trying to go “back to normal” (see pics below) but I take baby steps every day. Sometimes, I’m scared to go somewhere because it’s too crowded or I’m anxious about the food that I’ll be eating (remember, I have to be careful for awhile since I am so sensitive to infections).

But I decided this: I can’t focus the rest of my life on “not dying.” I must instead focus on “living.” Cheers!