There was a moment when my diagnosis started to feel like my name.

Not Tee.
Not educator.
Not advocate.

Just… patient.

Every conversation became about myeloma.
Every decision had to go through the lens of my illness.
Every plan came with a question mark.

And if I am honest, that shift was hard.

Because when illness becomes your identity, it can quietly take up space in places you did not invite it into.
It shows up in how you see yourself.
In how others see you.
In what you think is still possible for your life.

There were days I asked myself,
Who am I now?

Am I still the woman I was before this diagnosis
Or am I only who this illness says I am

That is a real place.
And I know I am not the only one who has been there.