This is intended as a kind of snapshot in time of who I was, what I did and what I looked forward to. Yes, the rest of the blog posts fulfill that somewhat as well, but I’ll often change any “about” sections, /now page and all that to reflect who I am at the moment and old versions will be lost. It’s also simply not as straightforward or detailed. So why not take time to summarize? This one was written retrospectively, but future ones will be written during that year.
Most of my 2024 was influenced by severe illness. I finally got confirmation on what has been wrong with me all my life: Bechterew's disease and Crohn's disease. That explained almost two decades of being fatigued, in pain, having difficulties with food, and a ton of other symptoms.
That meant a lot of waiting around for results, for treatment to work, getting lots of bloodwork done, MRI and ultrasounds, a hospital stay and being mostly bedbound at home. I mostly worked from home in that time and couldn't go out much. When I did, I was very exhausted, slow, in a lot of pain and felt everything flare up. I mostly lived on rice cakes, bland rice, soups, oatmeal, rice pudding and coconut cream. I struggled with suicidal thoughts.
I kept making plans for months ahead, hoping the nightmare would have ended then, but it never did. Things I looked forward to got cancelled, I couldn't attend, or if I did, I was suffering. I was popping Prednisone like smarties to survive.
March to November went on like this. In the meantime, I was focusing on making my home nicer, because I was spending a lot of time in it. I tidied up my balcony, bought nice seat cushions, took care of my plans, rearranged stuff on my desk, unified my PC stations and more. I also got engaged at the end of September. My fiancée is my biggest supporter and I'm grateful that despite it all, she always took care of me and is in it for life.
I couldn't get much done for university, but I did pass my criminal law course with a great grade.
Starting in November, my treatment slowly started to work and I got back to actually living, not just surviving. I finally had a future to look forward to again. I also managed to get into a 1.5 year certificate class to become a data protection officer, which gave me something else to work towards and live for again.
I was looking forward to starting it in April, and to getting married in May, and possibly moving some time.