Getting The Most Out Of This Short Life - by Andrea Pflughoeft
February has a lot of meaning to me and always has. Not only do my boyfriend and I both celebrate our birthdays this month, but it’s also Turner Syndrome Awareness Month - something the little girl inside of me didn’t really understand. I wasn’t diagnosed until I was in elementary school, but deep down my mom and I always knew I was different.
My mom had always said that I was a very fussy baby. I had constant ear infections as a kid, I was always the smallest kid in class, and I was always just a little different than my friends, but I didn’t know why. Luckily, I didn’t struggle much in school (academics-wise that is) and was always picking up on things pretty quick even though my teachers (and some doctors) thought that I wouldn’t amount to much in life because of TS.
Now, even though I did struggle a tad with math (but always had resources for extra help so I wouldn’t fall behind and my grade wouldn’t suffer), I suppose you could say that I was “blowing it out of the water” when it came to my schoolwork (including AP Biology). But there was one area where I was truly lacking and didn’t know why.
Despite my best efforts, I was always a loner kid without any friends and got really frustrated because I wasn’t sure why that was. My weekends were spent doing homework and hanging out at home with my parents, even when it wasn’t “cool” to be doing so. If it gives you any idea just how much of a loner kid I was, I didn’t even go to school dances (yes, even prom) because I was embarrassed of showing up alone. This “loner kid lifestyle” I suppose you could describe it as lasted all through college as well when I tried to be in Greek Life and it didn’t end well.
It wasn’t until my early to mid-20’s where things finally started to make sense. I was diagnosed with high functioning autism. I knew that autism can often coincided with TS, but I never connected the dots in my head. Looking back now, it does make sense as I have always struggled with understanding social queues and keeping friends, hence the “loner kid lifestyle” I mentioned earlier. Much like TS, I thought that this too would mean that everyone would look at me differently. Much to my delight though, I found a great therapist who was able to help me learn some of those social queues that I was missing and helped me realize that just like I had done with TS, I shouldn’t let this hold me back from anything either.
The sky became my limit as I changed careers from nursing to banking, got 2 promotions as said banking job in less than a year and a half, and took everything I was facing medically with one step at a time. I even had a boyfriend who I relate to on a very deep level because he too has autism and we understand each other’s struggles. I do suffer from depression and anxiety, so I could have easily been stuck in a very low-low, but instead I take charge of the world around me and don’t let anything stop me despite the many struggles I may face from either TS or autism. I recently found out I need hearing aids because of my Turner syndrome related hearing loss, and even though I was upset about it at first, I realized they’re just another tool to add to my tool belt to be the best version of me I possibly can and not let anything stop me from getting the most out of this short life (no pun intended).
