Rethinking my holiday plans with hypopara limitations in mind

Navigating the holidays with hypoparathyroidism is a lesson in conserving energy, pacing myself, and continuously reevaluating my calendar. It is the season of visits with loved ones, holiday parties, deadlines, and extra nasty communicable viruses — which is why I’m always masked. To keep pushing through the end-of-year sprint, I must frequently reassess and accept my boundaries.

The first thing I do to prepare is fill out my paper calendar from the end of November to the beginning of the following year. I do have an electronic calendar, but I find extensive planning easier when I can map it out on paper. My second step is to fill in all my doctor appointments plus drive time, and then mandatory work deadlines that cannot be missed. After I write down the most important friend and family events — the ones that can’t be changed in date or time — I add in all the flexible requests.

This year, my schedule made me break into a sweat. I’ve definitely overbooked. With my new agent and publishing deadlines I want to reach by the end of the year, I’m already working more than usual this month.

To make things more complicated, the increase in my pain and frequency of my vertigo has forced me to push back both deadlines and social events by weeks.

It was time for damage control.

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Taking a step back

First, I called my mother-in-law and asked for her advice on hosting Christmas. We agreed that Christmas Eve lunch instead of Christmas Day dinner, which we will partially cater, will take some of the burden off my shoulders.

I took a look at the dessert recipes that I’ve been planning to make for Christmas and cut them in half. This year, I’m aiming for simpler foods, especially ones that I can make and freeze ahead of time. This will allow me to bake in pockets of free time when I’m feeling up for the challenge, instead of having to wait until the day before the celebration. Also, pre-made, gluten-free cookie dough is a lifesaver, and I’m stocking up on that.

The next thing I did was move several friend visits to January. While the weather presents a greater risk, I can be more flexible with my time and energy. It’s not ideal, but all of my friends have been extremely gracious.

Finally, I looked at those work deadlines again. What absolutely cannot be moved, and what can be shifted around to lighten the load? This was the hardest part of my calendar review. I wanted to get everything done in the time frame I had originally planned! But my body won’t just bend to my will, no matter how often I try to force it.

The result was realizing I needed to take a few weeks off from writing columns so I can catch up on my publishing deadlines. It feels ironic that I have to take time off from writing about my disease in order to be successful in spite of my disease.

As the twinkle lights show up on trees and the snow starts building up on the ground, I hope that, through the magic of my paper calendar and six different colors of erasable pens, I’ve managed to strike the perfect balance between holiday stress, end-of-year deadlines, and my rare disease. I’ll recap in January how my balancing act worked out.

Note: Hypoparathyroidism News is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those of Hypoparathyroidism News or its parent company, Bionews, and are intended to spark discussion about issues pertaining to hypoparathyroidism.