Against All Odds Redux

It takes a team of doctors to keep up with me.

Yeah, that’s right.  I’m so infinitely badass that I require my own dedicated support team.

I guess at some point last year, I decided that each additional bit of adversity I faced was just one more opportunity to excel.

When I first started blogging, I titled my story "Against All Odds" because I was struggling with an insurmountable list of health issues in addition to the daily injury prevention challenges faced by all endurance athletes and a slew of personal problems.  Later, I answered a fellow blogger's question explaining the various health challenges I faced.  Little did I know that I would only continue to add more issues to the list: asthma and allergies, and of course cancer, "the icing on a very shitty cake."

Today I went to the ENT to get the update on my inner ear issues . . .  and it looks like the cause of all my inner ear problems is most likely an incurable disease called Meniere's.  I'm just learning about it, but I will begin something called vestibular therapy and then possibly be put on additional medications.  

The toughest part, though, is that my vertigo and hearing loss will follow me for the rest of my life, are completely unpredictable, and are usually progressive - meaning they'll most likely get worse and require more drastic treatments as I age. And I will definitely be making some dietary modifications (I'll write more later about the 4th discipline).

Yeah - it is a bit frustrating to think that I have to go through more tests and treatments after years of being free from them, and yeah - I could let it bother me or depress me or anger me.

But you know what?

I got this.

I know what I need to do, what I need to eat, and how much I need to sleep.  That's all I need to know.

I'm not going to stop training.

I'm not going to stop working my jobs.

I'm still applying to my PhD program.

I'm also not going to let this get me down.

Au contraire - I'm going to use it as yet another reason to succeed against the odds.

People who get bothered or angry or depressed by every bit of drama with which they're faced aren't the ones who conquer insurmountable obstacles.  People who are infinitely badass, on the other hand, are.