Chronic Illness Chronicles

This will be a vulnerable post read at your own discretion🫶🏻 TW: scar, iv, possible ED, mental health

Today was a big day, I was discharged from the hospital! The 2nd step to my long journey of healing. Open abdominal surgery was definitely not something I anticipated needing at 25- but man am I grateful I had this surgery.

When my surgeon spoke to my family post-op he informed them that my diaphragm was incredibly low-not only compressing my Median Arcuate Ligament, but also several of my organs (stomach, liver, intestines, etc). Additionally, he found that my nerves and surrounding tissue were incredibly damaged. This caused my lifelong GI issues, breathing trouble, excruciating pain, and more than I have time to list. The post-op pain was absolutely excruciating but I had the absolute best care team(s/o Stamford Hospital & Dr.Hsu).

Although I am not completely pain free I have already noticed some changes in my body. I am able to eat without MALs pain- it will take some time for my body to adjust to having more than just liquids and more than ~500 calories a day(if i was lucky). I can take deep and normal breaths without pain and I am not constantly reaching for an inhaler (even though it didnt help). My coloring has started to come back and I am less grey and my lips are no longer purple. These are just a few of the main changes. I am also working on walking for healing purposes not only related to my surgery (I can walk more than 3 steps without needing to stop!!). This is not a quick recovery by any means typically 4-6 months for MALs patients. But I made it this far and I am a fighter.

Leaving the hospital today I cried instantly (and so did my family). Getting my MALs diagnosed took YEARS. Years of medical trauma, doctors telling me im crazy, old friends telling me im overreacting, trips to countless doctors and hospitals. Years of suffering.

When my health really took a big nose dive October 2022 I feared I was not going to make it out of this. I felt this way for awhile and I pushed everyone away so they didnt see me as I was. I worked hard to regain hope and to hold onto it. It took A LOT of self work and I truly feel I have learned and grown so much during this battle. Surprisingly having absolutely 0 control over my body helped me heal a lot of my past trauma.

MALs and other vascular compressions are very serious conditions. MALs itself (the compression) is not life threatening but, everything that comes with it absolutely is. MALs and other vascular compressions are so often misdiagnosed. If you take anything from this post please NEVER stop fighting for yourself, your care, your health (physical AND mental). If you ever need to talk about anything you are dealing with please reach out. Illnesses of any kind are incredibly isolating and are not something you can get through without support. Trust yourselves you know your body and what you feel better than any doctor/therapist/medical professional.

I will never stop fighting for myself or other vascular compression patients. I will do more than just survive this horrible disease.

So now I am healing in a beautiful house by the lake and I can not wait to see what Lauren 2.0 will do.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading this post, for your support, and for reading about MALs.

I have several friends currently fighting MALs in addition to other vascular compressions SMA, MTS, NCS, PCS. Please keep them in your thoughts as they battle these horrible diseases.🫶🏻