Hello!
I just wanted to write a post to explain a little about the 'birth' of The Good Soap, and how I arrived at this point. Don't worry, it's not an autobiography!!
This piece is written to show anyone who may be having a hard time, physical health issue, mental health or otherwise, that things can change - that you can change your stars, and that you never know where life will lead with a little determination.
After quite a dramatic entrance into the world and requiring life saving open heart surgery as a small baby (I actually have a different heartbeat to everyone else) I guess I started life as a fighter, and a determined character. I was always a very active and outgoing person who lived life to the full, with my fair share of disasters and highs and lows. I'd got to a point in my life by 2013 where I was happier and fitter than I had ever been - lots of friends, great family, fab social life and enjoying Zumba about 3 times a week and going to the gym - life was good.
But then disaster struck, in January of 2013 I developed a problem with my lower back, this problem would not go away, despite the doctors and medical people telling me that 'everyone gets a bad back' and that it would either just go away or that I would have to spend the rest of my days on strong medication. Now bear in mind that by this point I was 41 years old and could not even walk or stand up for more than a couple of minutes at a time. I spent over 2 years before diagnosis pretty much housebound, unable to work, suffering awful financial consequences, and a complete change of mindset, taking strong medication, I could not be my normal happy outgoing self, some days I could not even walk down my stairs and spent days on end in bed - during these dark times my wonderful grown up son, all of my family, my amazing friends and a new partner treated me with a kindness and love I will never forget and they gave me the strength to go on. Now, to cut a very long and boring story short I begged and begged for a full diagnosis - and yes, believe it or not, I had to beg to be scanned. Finally I got a diagnosis and was told I had a bone out of place in my lower spine.
After a long wait, I finally had an operation on my spine, nearly 3 years later, in December of 2015. I had a spinal fusion, a metal rod screwed into my spine, which was more than tough to go through, pain I never knew existed and pain I never wish to experience again - and then came the long long road to recovery and the attempt to learnt to walk normally again. Again, the kindness of my family and friends and the addition of my beloved dog Ruby to our home slowly got me back on my feet to a point where I could be mobile again. And over the months and next couple of years I concentrated on walking longer distances and building up my strength, with the limitations that the fusion will always give me.
And so - the fusion unfortunately has left me with a few little limitations, and I still hate to actually admit this! But strangely it has lead me to this point in my life - because had I been able to work in a 'normal' job I doubt very much I would have had the time to put all of my retrospective qualifications and experience together start to 'play' soap! And I now have my perfect job, and business, and incidentally working with 3 of the beautiful humans who helped me smile through my dark days - my sister, my best friend and my mum.
So, when disaster strikes, try to see it as a gift, it does not seem like it at the time but actually this disaster that you have been given could pretty much be the best thing that has ever happened to you <3
Here is my beautiful metal bionic spine
by Dawn Rhodes
www.the-good-soap.co.uk