Karen Hoyt is a blogger who has a story about hepatitis C, cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease, liver cancer, and liver transplantation. This excerpt first appeared on Karen’s I Help C blog.

I’ve been walking around like Gomer Pyle for a long time. It’s gotten worse since the transplant. You know, because of the big tummy scar and all…. So, the one thing that I was determined to work on in Sedona was neck and shoulder pain. Lucky me, my cousin’s bestest long time friend is a chiropractor. He’s not a hard jerking bone cracking type of man. He’s gentle. More than that, he’s an emotional baggage unpacker. Really, it’s on his business card. After going in twice a week all month, we got a lot of kinks worked out in my body – and my whole dad gummed self. New insights mean new skills for dealing with pain. Neck pain and any other kind of pain because cirrhosis is a pain in the neck.

One of the first things that came out as we talked and worked together was that I have been carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders.

Here’s a list of the stuff I have felt personally responsible for:

  • Caring for my family
  • Staying alive
  • Finishing Hep C treatment
  • Getting through HCC cancer
  • Living through a transplant
  • Eating healthy
  • Not being a burden on my family
  • Staying on medical insurance
  • Paying medical costs
  • Picking out a nursing home (just in case – oh yes I did)
  • Trying to look pretty when I felt like crap
  • Acting alert when my brain was foggy
  • Hiding the fact that I couldn’t figure out simple things
  • Smiling through the pain
  • Supporting my loved ones in their goals
  • Sneaking naps and not telling anyone
  • Worrying about all this and more, way way way too much

Click here to find out how Karen deals with her list.