I have come to the hard decision that for various reasons, I will be discontinuing my blog posts for now and will resume upon my return to the US.  If you would like to reach me for updates on my trip, my health, or anything else you can email me at natashan.graves@gmail.com.  Furthermore, I will…

I apologize for the delay in posting.  I made it to South Africa in one piece on Wednesday.  The 19 hour total flight time and the 10 hour layover in London was beyond brutal.  The first flight wasn’t too bad but left me fatigued.  During my layover in London, I left the airport and explored…

I had my port put in with no issues on Monday. I had minimal nausea afterwards but a lot of pain. I took my final on Tuesday morning as scheduled and did my presentation. I also made it on a flight to Philadelphia yesterday. Tomorrow I head to DC for the weekend. I have been…

Well currently I’m sitting in a hospital bed. I am in the pre-op area waiting to have my third power port placed in my chest so that I can continue with hydration therapy. I finally persuaded the doctors that this is what I needed to do to get through the summer. My mom tells me…

I did not have the left stellate ganglion nerve block yesterday as planned. I have been having throat swelling, hoarseness and pretty much no voice since the first block and because of that, they could not do the second block as scheduled. Furthermore, I have been feeling extra crappy since the first block with my…

I find myself in the same situation I have been in every quarter of grad school so far. In the last couple weeks of every quarter so far, something has happened health wise. First quarter I had surgery a few days before my biostatistics final. Last quarter I was recovering from sinus surgery and then…

I have been contemplating the subject and content of this week’s post all day today. Did I want to put everything out there? Are there still things I want to keep secret? I am just going to lay it all out there. I have been frustrated with the way I have been feeling lately. It’s…

For the last week or so I haven’t been feeling well. My POTS has still been acting up and my sinus issues have not resolved. Things were only getting worse. I knew my only relief would be going to the hospital for IV saline. I just kept putting it off every day, allowing myself to…

Thoughts of the week stemming from my own doubts……”Life will knock you down more times than you can imagine. Don’t knock yourself down.” Believe in yourself. Don’t second guess or be filled with self doubt. If you are, you will never be happy and always filled with regret. Don’t let yourself stand in the way…