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2014: The sum total

One cold and bleak winter.

One insurance change.

One breakup.

Two central lines.

Three new scars.

A bunch of appointments at the ambulatory infusion center.

51 infusion nursing visits.

48 dressing changes.

32 lbs of steroid weight gained.

One best friend who had a medical emergency and recovered amazingly.

One new niece.

One unexpected hospital admission.

One ambulance ride.

Eleven self administered epipens.

Twenty one days for which I could stand up for less than thirty minutes a day.

One bachelorette party in Maine.

One lounge night of 40’s music.

One trip to Seattle where I learned that I still had magic inside me.

Two and a half days in Portland.

Two weddings.

One new cousin.

One bridesmaid dress that just fit with the steroid weight.

2400 hours (100 days) spent infusing.

Three invasive procedures.

One trip to Water Country on a very hot day.

One new dog.

280L of D5/Lactated Ringer’s.

710 saline flushes.

230 sharps put into the container.

One roadtrip in a convertible.

Two days of apple picking.

100 squash eaten.

2000 lbs of potatoes mashed with butter.

One trip to Disney-on-ice with my nephew.

One trip to Salem around Halloween.

One less well loved hippie in the world.

One friend started midostaurin.

One pumpkin carved.

Dozens of times I felt like I was connected to the heartbeat of the world.

Two new pair of glasses.

Dozens of new squash recipes.

Zero coffee-mate due to its not being low histamine.

114 medical appointments.

97 days on the hospital campus.

7,665 pills taken.

Two new diagnoses.

Twelve bottles of liquid Benadryl.

7500mg of prednisone.

3160 ampules of cromolyn.

110 doses of IV Benadryl.

300 ostomy changes.

600mg of ketotifen.

One drug that helped a lot that I really thought wouldn’t.

Eight weeks of liquids and soft solids.

One white count normalizing.

One iron count in normal range.

Five weeks of feeling better.

One surgery planned for 2015.

10 lbs lost.

Four flights.

Five days in Colorado.

Several nights of crying to my friends.

More laughing with them.

60 times my father drove me to work.

Two times I needed to use IV meds after I drove myself somewhere and had to get a family to pick me up and drive me home.

Millions of times my friends and family helped me out.

272 nights I slept.

365 days I woke up.

Two obstructions after starting IV therapy.

365 days of immunodeficiency.

73 yoga practices.

75 researchers educated on mast cell disease.

42 health care providers educated on mast cell disease.

102 people I taught to use an epipen.

One person I talked through their first epi.

Hundreds of people met with mast cell disease.

Many new friends that make living with this a little easier.

One new website.

252 blog posts.

52 countries with MastAttack readers.

10,000 questions answered.

One big plan for 2015.

One year of living and not just existing with mast cell disease.