I no longer write here, Shannon. However I do check for comments, and one of them led me to check in on you.

Some context here:

I'm an aging athlete. I've been through seven (updated 8/12, not making this up) MAJOR reconstructive surgeries since last July. Your supporters' comments are akin to, say, if my readers asked me why I haven't climbed Kilimanjaro already when it takes a full year each for each foot to fully heal and not hurt when I walk. I'm still on a knee scooter from my last foot procedure. And I also developed very painful complications- ganglion cysts- in each newly-repaired hand, both of which required more surgery.

Then I hauled off and broke my damned hip, right? Shit happens. It happens to all of us.

So I get it. There is no such thing as an overnight before and after. I think that the initial enthusiasm is waning because folks are wanting, if not demanding, a Cinderella story. For those of us with the bodies, it's more Cinder than Ella at this point, because our bodies, such as they are, present very complex challenges. I'm a hemophiliac, there are other issues which complicate things.

For example, people often push NSAIDs and anti-inflammatory meds at me: oh take THIS, those cysts are inflamed (yes they are, just ask me every time I try to use one of my hands). Well, a bleeder like me can't take anything that thins the blood. That would include garlic, cinnamon, turmeric and onions. Yeppirs, all those things which flavor our foods. They would be a serious danger to my health.

Everyone has a handy-dandy fix. The problem is that people who invest in a Cinderella story and then complain to you that your results don't fit their narrative are in this for their reasons, not yours. To insult your progress (and I can see it) by implying that perhaps what you're really doing is gorging cookies in the closet on the side - which is what their comments feel like to me- is cruelty.

You don't owe them a quick fix. You do owe yourself the courage to keep going. Think of it this way: that money fuels the courage, not the overnight success story.

We each carry a whole bucket of challenges. You are making progress. It's painful to have to write and write and write to explain to your supporters that their money is well spent. You are in ways a guinea pig for this doctor, and as such, what he sees with you will help him help others. That's a high price to pay. For the naysayers, oh well. It's a journey, Shannon.

Clapping for you from where I sit.