Corybantic Muse

Our family was affected by changes in immigration policies in Sweden that were not spelled out. Due to Brexit, we went from being an EU citizen family to a Brexit family. The immigration lawyer we were working with for the switch helped my husband handle his situation, but said nothing about mine nor our child’s. All three of us should have been sent In together. If we had, we all would have citizenship right now.

At the time I was going through stage 4 cancer treatments including surgery as well as chemo. We missed sending in the paperwork for myself and our child literally by a week for our temporary extension because of being distracted by cancer. At 6 months of processing you can request a review and closure of your case, which we did and, at the same time, discovered we sent in the incorrect paperwork as we were supposed to send in the Brexit paperwork. We sent it in the next morning and removed our previous paperwork like the immigration department told us to over the phone. I, stupidly, did not write down the name of the person we talked to.

When we hit the 6 months for this paperwork, we sent in the letter to request the review and close our case. This is when we received a letter saying we had filed the incorrect paperwork and to send a new version of the original paperwork. They did not care that when we originally sent in the wrong paperwork I was navigating stage 4 cancer - severe health situations sre supposed to be an extenuating circumstance that is allowed.

I ended up having to leave the country through a country outside the EU in 4 days from the letter we received, fly back to the US, and wait for an appointment at the Swedish embassy in Washington DC. Thankfully, I had family that could assist through this entire process.

When my husband and our 5 year old autistic child took me to the airport, our child was bawling and screaming mommy while I was going to security. We explained to him beforehand that I had to go to the US for a bit without him and would be back as soon as I could. He was absolutely traumatized.

7 weeks later I received my letter allowing me back in the country. Our child was so thankful I was back and told me that I was not allowed to ever go anywhere again without him as he’s my travel buddy. He still, over a year later gets scared at the prospect of me leaving him again.

I look at our son after seeing the child used as a pawn to grab his father and I am so unbelievably livid.

The reason I share this is because the trauma that ICE is creating in the US right now is so beyond what we experienced. So many that followed the rules and are being rounded up. They have green cards and permanent residence. Many have never lived outside of the US. Actual citizens are being targeted for the color of their skin. This is active abuse of individuals and children that have done absolutely nothing wrong. The level of trauma being inflicted is unimaginable and completely unacceptable. This is NOT how immigration policies are adjusted. Civil rights and human rights are being violated every single day at this point.

With each person killed by ICE I flip through the faces of the Black children murdered by law enforcement for just existing, the Black men and women that have been murdered for just existing, the Indigenous Americans that have been murdered since Europeans showed up on the continent. I am horrified and disgusted by everything occurring. It Is the opposite of what I was taught to believe - every person has value. The US HAS to DO better and BE better.

It’s also NOT just about the US. This affects Immigration around the entire world and Is unacceptable.

Photo: picture of fallen tree In the shape of a heart taken In Bergen, Norway by author.

Huge HuGs

It’s been a hot minute since my last post! Today was scan day. If all is good, it should be my last and I’m free from follow ups! 💃🏻

This past year has been focused on healing my GI tract as the issues had gotten out of control. Thankfully, I’ve made significant progress in this department and I am beginning to lose some of the weight, albeit at a snail’s pace. The working diagnosis is irritable bowel syndrome. Since meds for it haven’t been available, it was recommended to use psyllium husk and, with further research by me, I’ve added chia seeds as well. Thanks to Mighty Fungi I have had enormous improvements with my nerves, brain fog, and calming of my gut. I am not affiliated with them, but they were an enormous game changer for my energy and daily functionality.

After all of this, I’ve decided to become a health coach. There’s an amazing program with a university in the states that I plan on starting soon and going this direction. I can’t wait to share and begin working with individuals around the world on navigating the complexities of healthcare and supporting them in improving their health!❤️

Enjoying a late lunch after taking things slow this morning and focusing on practices. 🧘🏻‍♀️ We finally arrived at our hotel at midnight last night.

My original plan was to come here, but I went the wrong direction and located an Asian massage place to go to so my body will relax after the long trip and all that I did this week. Bonus!

Thankful for wonderful food, time to read, & an iced chai latte as it is incredibly warm today and my body hasn’t acclimated yet.

This has been an adventurous trip thus far! Our first flight showed up about an hour late then had to wait on Copenhagen as they were short staffed. We arrived about 2 hours late! 🫣 Thankfully we originally scheduled a 4 hour layover so we were able to have dinner.

Now our flight is delayed an hour and keeps losing its gate assignment. Funny how much I have missed the fun of the rapidly changing reality (RCR) of flying!

Thankfully, we found a little coffee shop to stop at near a board to read so we can keep rechecking and have seats.

Welp, so much for take off! Copenhagen is understaffed so we’re sitting in our plane waiting to be allowed to take off in 30 or so minutes. One guy is getting off as he’s going to miss his connection after they locked all the doors and got everyone handled. New experience for me!

We are at least in the exit row so extra leg room.

Getting on a plane and off on our first couple adventure since the crazy round trip adventure to the UK when I was 6 months pregnant! When we were checking in our bags the person at the desk made me nervous as I still don’t have my residency card yet and just have my “in processing” letter, but we got it handled.

This is my second trip with my stoma so preparing for it is always an adventure too. This time I packed for 3 bag changes per day for worst case scenario which means 21 bags. This is broken up into 2 places - my daily bag that stays in my purse and a medium sized cosmetic bag in a different bag to be carried on. I am taking my irrigation supplies with me as well and chose to pack those in the checked bag. Typically, I would keep them with me in carry on, but I didn’t want to lose that space. Worst case, I have bags for multiple daily changes and get a whole new wardrobe. 🤪

I forgot to mention having a stoma when going through security, but it caused no issues and they didn’t require a pat down or wand. My stoma supply makeup bag was checked further as was my GoPro camera case. Other than that, it was smooth sailing. I did choose to not eat today until we made it through security and irrigated about 2 hours before arrival so my bag would be empty. This isn’t necessary, but created me feeling less stressed.

After refueling myself, we’re now just waiting for our delayed flight…



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Me pretending it’s spring while the snow is falling…

The antibiotics appear to be making everything better. All of my GI issues have disappeared after a year of being sick all of the time. 🤷🏻‍♀️ My chiropractor brought up the possibility that perhaps I’ve had a rogue bacterial infection going on this whole time. I’m actually wondering the same thing as it all started when I finished antibiotics in January of last year. I’ve also noticed my weight is slowly starting to drop back down so swelling is going down even though I can’t see it in my face yet.

This morning I even got in my Finnish sauna time and figured out that I had it set too low as I almost made it to 20 minutes easily. 🫣 I had changed the temperature down when I was sick last week and forgot to put it back up.

After, I did my intermittent cold shower time and lasted for a collective 2 min, 30 seconds. Hopefully it’ll increase quickly.

No filters. I’m tired. Yet. This is the best I’ve felt in I don’t know how long. I even took the time to put on a scarf and earrings! 😱 Still no makeup, but today was the first day I felt like I was missing it.

My GI upset has stopped for the first time in forever. Apparently it needed an antibiotic reset. I was even able to have potatoes without getting sick the other day!

My hope is that I can rebuild my gut flora stronger this time so I don’t need to go through what I have over this past year again.