Out of the Ordinary with Mel

10/17/2025

✨ Sharing this tonight for awareness, understanding, and a little bit of hope 💛

Tonight as I sit here, I’ve had a major day. MAJOR.

Yesterday Adam and I went to Guelph to meet with the vascular specialist who confirmed that if my neurosurgeon was on board with low dose anticoagulants, that would be the best course of action for a blood clot that I developed after having a Picc line last week since my blood clot sits right up against a major vein. I got in touch with my Neurosurgeon team today and received the all clear to start. It’s a 45 day course of daily injections. Thankfully, and maybe a little sadly, I’m no stranger to giving myself injections so that part won’t be an issue.

I also had a follow up with the amazing family doctor I’ve been seeing while my regular doctor is needing help. She has been such a gift. She listened, believed me, and never once made me feel crazy. When you’ve had to navigate a medical system with no clear answers but you know something is wrong, it doesn’t take long to be dismissed or not believed.

While we were reviewing everything that’s happened this past week, my endocrinologist (who did the testing last week) called. Perfect timing.

Three years ago I was referred to Dr Purdon in Guelph for unexplained hypoglycemia. We did a few tests but nothing clear showed up. He planned to follow up with a 72 hour fasting test, but life shifted when I was diagnosed with three brain aneurysms and that took over. His follow up fell through the cracks.

Fast forward to this summer. Out of nowhere, I got a call from him. He said he was retiring and while reviewing old files realized my chart had been missed. He apologized, did a two hour intake over the phone, and immediately ordered new tests. The first showed reactive hypoglycemia. The second-the 72 hour fasting test last week- revealed something bigger.

He called today with the results. I have Addison’s Disease.

It’s rare, complex, and yet somehow simple. All my numbers lit up. He said he has never seen a case like mine and that it’s a wild way to end his medical career, solving such a mystery.

I have cried so many tears of relief and validation today. I’ll forever be grateful that he took the time to look deeper, to truly listen, and to treat me like a person.

Addison’s is serious but treatable. I still have more steps and adjustments ahead, but I’ll be in good hands as my care continues with his colleague.

Tonight I cry tears of gratitude and validation. If you know deep down something isn’t right, please don’t give up. Keep pushing for answers. It’s uncomfortable and exhausting but I’m living proof that rare cases do exist 💕 I still have many hurdles to jump over the next bit but I have so much gratitude in my heart tonight 💕✨

10/09/2025

🙌🙌🙌

You don’t have to give your energy to every problem, every person, or every comment.

Pause. Breathe. And decide if it’s actually worth it.

If it’s not? Let Them.

And then Let Me protect my peace, my focus, and my energy 💚

10/05/2025

💕💕 Love this. Love that it truly can look so different for all the different seasons of life 💕💕

.. choosing to get up again. 🌿

09/27/2025

1500 days sober 💫

As I often share, learning to actually sit in the hard and not run to escape will be one of the biggest achievements of my life. I continue to shift my generational lines to somewhere new and different, one hard day and one easy day at a time.

This month has come with many dark and heavy days, but having a clear mind allows for breakthroughs like no other. For that, today I am deeply grateful. 🙏🏻🙏🏻💕💕

09/22/2025

My Monday Educational PSA 💕💕💕

09/21/2025

Gentle Sunday evening to you,

Tonight I come to share a bit of my heart. I have been rather silent for some time now, just going through the motions of life with both a hope and a fear. Hope that things could and would be different, and fear that they never will. It is such a hard lesson to learn again and again that I am not in control of others around me.

The song that has been playing rent free in my head is the line, “Love in letting go.” It has taken on so many meanings as this year has unfolded. Lately, it has been a constant reminder that when I hold boundaries with people, it is not from a mean or spiteful place but from love. A deep love for myself, for my boys, and for the generations to follow. Untethering myself from a foundation I once believed to be true and having to relearn how to walk, almost like Bambi, has been challenging at best.

This past week I celebrated my 40th birthday, and I was truly celebrated by many beautiful people for no other reason than that they love me. No strings and no expectations, just love. It has also been a week of deep grief, of uncovering layers I never realized were there, layers even I did not want to face.

As many of you know, I have some horrific sexual abuse in my past. This week I finally concluded that dissociating from it, or putting it in a box, has not changed the reality that it has had a much bigger impact on my life than I wanted to admit. Our society has done a horrendous job of supporting victims, of believing them, and of creating a space where someone could come forward without being blamed. My story, while deeply personal and painful, is sadly not unique. Most victims are not met with belief, understanding, or empathy, but with the opposite. Our own judicial system has a conviction rate of only one percent, and that is only from the small number of cases that ever make it forward.

The scars I carry are deep. They are familial, systemic, and societal. This is an uncomfortable conversation that needs to be had. We are real people. I am a real woman, mom, daughter, sister, friend, neighbour, coworker, student, and teacher whose voice is valid. Your voice is valid too.

Yesterday I woke up depleted from the emotional rollercoaster of the week and wanted to crawl back into bed. But my soul knows I have been hiding in the shadows for too long, hoping things might magically be different. I feel lost in those shadows. I want to reclaim, even with baby steps, the progress I have made. I want to use my voice again, not only for me but for all of us who struggle in one way or another. None of us gets an easy pass in life. Social media may make it look that way, but it is not reality.

So I put a voice to the struggles. I have the uncomfortable conversations. I name things for what they are. Living in a small town, I was reminded this weekend that personal things I share can become the subject of gossip. I wrestled with that and with the fear of needing to stay silent. But I will not. I refuse to. I believe my calling is to speak the uncomfortable truths. Not out of hate but out of love.

As that song reminds me, there is love in letting go. So I let go of worrying about who screenshots my posts. I let go of waiting for loved ones to show up in ways I hope for. I let go of waiting for people to acknowledge that what happened to me did happen to me-not because I wore the wrong thing, but because predators exploited my vulnerability. And I will continue having these conversations, for myself and for those who come after me.

Life is messy. But we do not need to suffer or carry shame alone. Bit by bit, when we let in the people we deeply trust, those shadows begin to lift. Then we can see the light, the joy, and the comfort in being together in the messy. My voice will not be taken away again.

If reading this has made you uncomfortable, I invite you to resist projecting blame outward and instead ask yourself the deeper question of why. Sit with that. Reflect on it.

This weekend I had the joy of swinging on a swing and reconnecting with the little girl inside me. I felt joy in my heart and soul in a way I had not felt for a long time. I am going to keep doing the things that bring joy and healing, even as I navigate waters filled with grief and uncomfortable truths.

Much, much louder love
Mel

09/21/2025

YYYAAAASSSSSS!!!! I swang on some swings today for a good while and I can tell you it was so healing to my soul today 💕💕

09/09/2025

Needed this reminder 🙏🏻 Maybe you do too ✨✨

Please can we slow down. 🩶

09/09/2025

💕💕

09/04/2025

Join us for an extra special event on the 21st!!!

🍂🧹Join us for a fun woman’s circle celebrating the season’s shift & crafting mini brooms!

🧹 Now for the record we have no fancy broom making skills, but I do have lots of fancy grasses, sticks, ribbons and charms for us to get creative together lol 🌾

Snacks will be provided and you’re welcome to bring some too.

Hopefully outdoors at my place (about 5 mins from springmount in hwy 21), but if weather doesn’t permit it will be in Owen sound.

Let me know if you plan to join us!

09/01/2025

09/01/2025

The big 4-0 is officially loading… and September isn’t just another month, it’s MY birthday month. This year it comes with a crown ✨👑✨ 40 years of lessons, glow-ups, and surviving things that would’ve taken many people out… so yeah, I’ll be celebrating like the QUEEN I AM!!

Any other September babies??!!!