ANN-lene

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30626788@N00/211566100

(wrote this last March 22, 2010)

Last week, I found out I have osteopenia.

It means that my bones are kind of brittle. If I will not take necessary actions, it may lead to osteoporosis.

I learned about it after I underwent a free bone screening. My left arm wrist was subjected to the screening, which took a minute. What’s bad is that at my age (I’m 28), I’m too young to be osteopenic.

Get this: I’ve had kidney infection, I’m going treatment for hyperthyroidism (nodules somehow found a home there, which I hate), and I have benign nodules in my breasts that I need to monitor. Aside from this, I have been wearing eyeglasses for more than a decade now because of astigmatism and near-sightedness. Oh, I also have vertigo, and the reason I had braces at late 20s because I have been suffering from temporo mundibular joint disorder for a long time (and I didn’t know!). So you could tell that my days are numbered.

With all of this, I could easily say, “Here we go again, another problem. Why is it always me?”

But instead of being sad, I just said “okay” to the doctor, after telling me the actions that I needed to take. The thing with osteopenia is that all I have to do is more calcium supplements and milk intake, so I think I’m gonna be just fine.

Was it because I’m used to being susceptible to diseases that are so out of this world (I think I made sure it can’t be found easily in the ordinary dictionary)? Well, I guess so.

But I think I took the news as it is because I believe I can win this battle.

I had won the fight against my kidney infection when I was a kid. The last time I had my check up, my thyroid nodules are getting smaller (I’m still praying it will disappear forever). My astigmatism grade reached its highest, though, but my near-sightedness grade steadied since three years ago. My vertigo is manageable, and my jaws are getting back to normal.

So I believe I could win another fight; I will live another day. Because I am someone who can still do many things. I am someone who cannot just be brought down.

As I drank my first cup of Anlene, I toast to the dreams that I will still achieve.

I toast to the beaches and beautiful places that I will reach.

I toast to the friends that I will still meet and new ones to greet.
I toast to the crazy things that I will still do.

I toast to the battles I have conquered, and to the ones that will still be coming.

So I’ll keep myself healthy.