Project Kate Update

I’m back with another update on how I’m doing on Project Kate! Featured in this post if you want to skip some parts: surgery, infusion, yoga, grad school, tutoring, working, and a hint at what’s coming later this week.

Physical Health

My pain has still been very high all around, but overall I finally have some progress on this front. If you haven’t already heard, I’m having surgery on November 13. I saw a new sports medicine doctor last week and he says that it should be a straightforward surgery to fix my cartilage.

I’ve also been increasing my daily yoga practice and walking. My parents have been in Italy the past week and a half, and so the daily care for the dogs has fallen to me. We have a dog walker come normally twice a week, but someone has been coming once a day every day since they’ve been gone, which is great because it means that I just have to walk them first thing in the morning, around dinner, and before bed. Each of those walks is (for me) 30 minutes or less. The dog walker takes them out for much longer, which really helps me because it means that I can do those shorter times. This is still an increase in the amount of walking I’ve been doing, and my body has risen to the challenge, but there have been a couple of signs that this is the maximum amount of walking I can really do night now. I’m hoping that I can keep walking a fair amount once I don’t have to walk this much every day. We shall see!

I have changed my next infusion date and pushed it back a week to the 28th. I wasn’t going to, but it was scheduled the Monday before I take the GRE subject test, and that test is too important to hope that I will feel better enough 5 days later.

Mental Health

Wow, it’s amazing how much your mental health improves when you have a long-awaited surgery announced, right? Seriously, that has done wonders for me. My pain has been really high, but it’s so much easier to know that it will hopefully start moving in a positive direction in just a few short months.

But that’s not the only thing that has changed. Like I said, I have increased the length of my daily yoga practice. This has helped my mental health because I am forcing myself to clear my mind. Plus, you know, meditation at the end. It does great things for mental health!

Graduate School

So I’m taking the GRE on November 6 and the GRE literature test on October 25. My first application is due on December 15, and since I’m now having surgery November 13, I need to really crack down on my applications. I’m aiming to get all of them in by December 15 (the rest aren’t due until January 15) because I want to just enjoy the holidays with minimal stress, but we shall see. It will really depend on how recovery from surgery goes. Like I’ve said in the past, I don’t want to publicize where I’m applying to yet. But I am applying to get my masters in English literature.

Work Plans

Now that I’m having surgery and know that my knee will be so much better in the near future, I’m starting to seriously look into working part time in the new year. Right now, I’m offering my editing and freelance writing services. I’m currently working on a project with a friend of mine who is getting her Etsy shop up and running by writing up the blurbs for her items, and I’ve done some editing projects, as well.

*Shameless plug – if you are redoing your blog pages, setting up an Etsy shop, working on a huge paper for school, or anything in between and want me to edit it, let’s work together! I was a high school English teacher, I’m an author, and I majored in secondary education and English at Vanderbilt. I charge $5 per 200 words or $15 for 3 blog pages/posts (less than 1000 words). Just email me if you’re interested!*

Also, I have been tutoring! Once a week, I am volunteering at a Catholic high school, and I’m working one-on-one with a student on grammar. It has been great to be teaching again, even if it’s just for 45 minutes once a week.

Other Plans

Things I have been good at: eating healthy, regular yoga, taking all medications. And something I have been better at, if not great: getting out of my shell more. I went to a great blogger event this weekend at CambridgeSide Galleria, and I’m so glad I did because it was a lot of fun and I got to meet so many awesome people. I will have a full discussion of that, including some of the great fashion looks we got to preview, on Thursday.

Hope your week has been off to a great start!

Kate Mitchell

Kate Mitchell is a blogger, chronic illness patient, and advocate who helps people understand chronic illness and helps chronic illness patients live their best lives.