Welcome To Phoenix Soul Blog

Hello Everyone,

Today I am going to take some time to introduce you to our Phoenix Soul Warrior website and blog.

If you have an invisible illness or are a support person to an individual with an invisible illness, I know our website and resources can help you.

Introductions

First I want to introduce who we are. Our names are Heather and Marc Foisy and we created this website after ensure many very difficult years of chronic illness while trying to build a happy life and family.

We have been through a lot together and we've shared an enormous amounts of roller-coaster experiences both high's and lows' emotionally.

I, Heather, was diagnosed with Sjogren's at the age of 28, but I spend 8 years prior to that looking for a diagnosis.

After our diagnosis we got married and planned to start a family, only to met with fertility risks and high stress doctor appointment. We have been blessed to have one happy and healthy boy, who is now 6 years old.

Since our son was born, Heather was diagnosed with Lupus, she experienced personal trauma and had to leave her beloved career to handle her health. She is not at home on disability unable to work.

Marc and her son Phoenix have been her biggest cheerleaders and support persons, and together our family has put together this blog and website to help other chronic illness sufferers.

If you want to hear more about Heather's story with chronic pain and invisible illness, be sure to pop over to the About Me page.

What Does Phoenix Soul Mean?

If you've had the chance to check out the main landing page for the Phoenix Soul webpage, you'll already have an understanding of the term.

But for anyone who is brand new to our site, let me help explain.

Have you ever experienced a trauma?

A major car accident?

A natural disaster?

An assault?

If you have, you'll understand.

If you haven't, let me tell you, you never want to.

Why?

Because when you experience a trauma, your body goes through what is called a stress response, also called a fight-flight-faint response.

This stress response tells your body that something is wrong, that you are in danger, and it does everything it can to try and survive.

When a person is diagnosed with a chronic health condition, this can cause a trauma response to happen.

You can feel like your whole world is falling apart.

You can feel unsafe.

You can feel like you are dying.

You can feel depressed, sad, scared, and very very lonely.

I, Heather, experienced all of this when I was diagnosed with Sjogren's.

...and I relived it again after my miscarriage.

...and again after my assault.

...and again after my Lupus diagnosis.

I know what it is like to feel incredibly broken.

I know what it is like a part of you has died.

I know what if feels like to want to give up, and sadly I know what it looks like to actually give up, as I suffered major depression and considered taking my life after all of this.

I am so glad I didn't.

I am so glad that I am able to be here today to share my story and help others who are struggling too.

Phoenix Soul is a testament to Rising Up after illness diagnosis.

To Rising Up after mental health crisis's and chronic mental illness.

To Rising Up after any and all traumas, no matter how big or small.

Over the years Heather has both lost and found herself, her health and her love for life.

She has been reborn over and over.

The Phoenix is a fitting name for heather, a warrior who has fallen and risen throughout the battle of health.

We are here to help each and every one of you to Rise Up and join us as a Phoenix Soul Warrior.

What Will This Website and Blog Focus On

We plan on focusing on various topics that fall under the invisible illness category.

What is an invisible illness?

An invisible illness is a condition a person has that effects their body negatively on the inside, but is not overly present or visually shown on the outside.

A good example of this is cancer.

Most everyone knows what cancer is, however there are many cancers that show no outward signs and a person can look healthy on the outside, but be very sick on the inside.

What invisible illness categories will you focus on?

We will be focusing on rheumatic autoimmune conditions, mental illness and chronic pain.

Each one of these categories can be standalone, however there is also a lot of overlap between them, so you will become proficient in all of them, if you stick with us.

Heather has a vast knowledge of rheumatic autoimmune conditions, as she has many of them (unfortunately). She has learned a ton over her years living with these conditions and has found some great resources, supports and products to help individuals on their journey.

Mental Health and Mental Illness are related but are different things. We will be diving into both of these topics and how they relate to having a chronic illness.

Chronic Pain is a common long term symptom of many individual who live with autoimmune diseases (not just rheumatic ones). We plan on discussing what chronic pain in and moving into resources that can help you along you way.

Where do I start?

I've got two recommendations right off the start.

First grab your free copy of the Prepping for your Rheumatologist Appointment Worksheet.

You can snag a copy of it here.

If you want to get updates on future freebies, and updates on the blog, and newsletters packed with tons of info sign up for the newsletter here.

What other supports do you have for individuals?

I just started an online support group to help individuals living with Sjogren's and Lupus. This is a peer-to-peer support group where you can ask questions and connect with others going through the same scenarios as you.

Additional to that if you are just learning to soak up more information, I suggest checking out our Blog. There is tons of information available to you.

We look forward to connecting with you again soon.

Wishing you Health and Happiness,

Heather and Marc