8 Lessons Lupus Taught Me: From Surviving to Thriving with Autoimmune Diseases

By CallyRae Stone

Written as a narrative short story, CallyRae shares her candid insights as she journeys through surviving with autoimmune diseases. Suffering from chronic daily pain, infections, and extreme fatigue, her outlook was one of frustration and hopelessness. As her life journey down the autoimmune highway took twists and turns, she learned to read the signs and listen to her body, mind, and spirit. She continues on the journey but has replaced pain with vitality, infections with health, and extreme fatigue with immense energy. Her outlook is now one of hope and happiness, and she considers herself blessed to live with the autoimmune diseases of rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and oral lichen planus. She no longer suffers and survives but rather thrives and shares hope and inspiration to those who are looking for a better healthier way to live.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Feb 16, 2018
• ISBN: 9781504397414

CallyRae Stone

CallyRae is best known for her professional accomplishments as a Speech Language Pathologist and her specialized treatment of tongue thrust as the creator and author of the Stone Tongue Thrust Protocol: A Protocol for the Assessment and Treatment of Tongue Thrust. She gets satisfaction out of telling her childhood teachers that she found a way to make her talking too much in class pay off! Now she not only gets paid for talking but also for teaching others to do the same. Through her transformation journey with Autoimmune Diseases, CallyRae found another passion through inspiring healthy living. Inspiring hope where there is hopelessness, confidence where there is fear, and joy where there is sadness has led her to transformation coaching with a lifestyle focus. Whether as a Speech Language Pathologist or a Transformation Coach, CallyRae is innovative and eclectic. She loves to encourage and educate people about their potential and give them the tools to strive for more. She seems to gravitate to the challenges and seek for the solution. Whether it is a patient with a brain injury trying to rebuild their cognition; a student struggling to learn how to teach a complex client a new skill; or an individual who has given up because of their frustration with life: CallyRae will find a solution and offer hope. You can follow CallyRae on social media for inspiration and ideas through her coaching page https://www.facebook.com/CallyRae2 or callystone1 on Instagram.

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Copyright © 2018 CallyRae Stone.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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ISBN: 978-1-5043-9740-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-9741-4 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 02/09/2018

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: My Story

Lesson 1 Your Genetics Are Not Your Destiny

Lesson 2 Eat Your Fruits & Veggies

Lesson 3 Who Was I Born To Be?

Lesson 4 Health Is #1

Lesson 5 Empty Your Cup

Lesson 6 How Do You Eat An Elephant?

Lesson 7 The Chrysalis Period

Lesson 8 All You Need Is (Unconditional) Love

Closing Thoughts

About the Author

To my husband Joff and my kids

Jessica, Christopher, and Jenna;

Thank you for being my inspiration

to be better and do better each day.

You are the wind beneath my wings.

Acknowledgments

A special thank you to Debbie Gibbons and Brandi McMahon for editing and providing feedback for the attention to detail that I lack.

As these lessons are a compilation of my life experiences through my autoimmune journey, there is no way to reference, credit or acknowledge everyone who has been a part of this journey or made a contribution to this book. My only hope is that I can pay it forward and leave the road better than I found it.

My greatest acknowledgment is to my Father in Heaven and my Savior Jesus Christ who have made this journey possible and the lessons a series of blessings.

Finally, to acknowledge my family who have lived the journey with me and loved me both as a munching caterpillar and a soaring butterfly.

Introduction: My Story

My name is Cally Stone and at the time of completing this book I am 48 years old. My story of course begins at birth. However the relevant points of this experience, my autoimmune journey, begin at age 25 just as I completed my Masters of Science Degree in Speech Language Pathology.

Shortly after graduation, in what is called the Clinical Fellow Year, I experienced my first symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). I was diagnosed the following year after moving back to Boise in 1998. My thought was I am too young to have arthritis but rheumatoid arthritis ran in my family with both my mother and grandmother having RA so I didn’t give it much more thought.

At that time in my scientific education I had learned about genetics and the fact that you were destined with the genetics from your DNA. In 1999, I began experiencing chronic infections that would not heal but morph from one thing into another. I would have bronchitis from October through May every year with a bronchial cough that would linger year-round. Sinus infections would morph into cellulitis and staph infections. Urinary tract infections would be complicated by yeast infections and vacillate back and forth as treatment for one would exacerbate the other.

Both my internist and gynecologist were perplexed and prescribing antibiotics, steroids, antifungals, and anti-inflammatories all of which would only give brief resolution until the bug would morph into another presentation. Finally, my internist determined that I had colonized staph in my sinuses from working in healthcare (by this time in hospitals and skilled nursing facilities for 5 years). When my sinuses would drain the staph was opportunistic and would take up residence wherever it would find an opportunity. It seemed like a plausible explanation and we all went with it for years as I would cycle through what seemed like an endless infection of one sort or another.

Finally in 2011, I had an outbreak of skin lesions. They weren’t severe (especially in comparison to the gnarly infections I was used to). The lesions were relatively small and scattered randomly, or so I thought, on various places on my body. The largest one was on my scalp and was itchy but not painful. It was just an irritation on the crown of my head, so I couldn’t really see the little bald spot. Other lesions were more painful so I had seen the doctor. She discounted it as another strange presentation with no explanation or solution. So I continued to ignore them and went about