Valeria

Student and practitioner of ADD (Art Du Déplacement) Follicular thyroid adenoma Rome, Italy (Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic)

"In the summer of 2021, I broke free from this short-lived yet increasingly unpleasant situation. I met amazing people ready to help me regain the health that seemed so distant. Among all these people is also my boyfriend, with whom I have shared, to date, ten years of my life. After moving to Milan to start a master's degree in editorial translation, I embraced the opportunity to start anew in search of a new 'me' — stronger, healthier, bolder, more patient, and more self-confident. Always through that passion which, through ups and downs, has allowed me to become the person I am today. This discipline has given me so much. It has caused me wounds which, through training, willpower, meditation, and determination, I have learned to heal so well that they have become scars, experiences, life lessons — not painful at all but beneficial, positive, and regenerating.

So, perhaps the strongest cure for my lost health has been family, the one that runs through your veins and resides by blood, but also the one acquired through the platonic love of a sport and the people who are part of it.

Constantly having a spotlight on that 'being unwell,' on that weakness that came after surgery which took away not only a part of me physically (the thyroid) but also a part of life that is and forms my spirit and mental health, changes the way you think and act in life. It requires a change of priorities and attention, from yourself personally, but also from those close to you in moments of difficulty like this, who share your moods, not always great.
Sometimes I have felt inhuman. Just a collection, an accumulation of organs and nothing more. Reflecting, thinking something is wrong, and having to remember it often, if not every day, creates a sense of duality in my mind and way of living life. On one side there is you with your illness, your symptoms, and everything that follows. On the other side, there is still you, who lives without that illness. Who at least desires to pretend it doesn’t exist. And then there is everything else, actually, which is life, which never stops and goes on."

“‘Colui che l’amore non tocca cammina nelle tenebre,’ ho sentito dire una volta. La ragione per cui dovremmo sforzarci di compiere buone azioni in questa vita è per nutrire l’anima e lo spirito prima ancora di concentrarci sul corpo fisico. Attraverso questo impegno, diventiamo portatori di torcia per illuminare un cammino, il nostro viaggio e quello di chi è più debole. Con ciò, ci assumiamo la responsabilità di toccare e trasformare le tenebre in una luce di speranza per coloro che rimangono a

"There are days when, as I look into my daughter’s eyes, I see her mother, my wife, reflected in them. I still feel guilty, just like that time when I couldn’t hear her mother screaming inside that hospital room. 'Didn’t you hear me screaming at the top of my lungs in that room?' she sometimes jokes, adding that she needed my help more than ever in that moment. At times, I think I’ll never fully accept that there was nothing I could have done for her if things hadn’t turned out well that morning

“After my son was born in 2015, as I watched him grow, I realized that a parent’s touch or embrace is something that has no price and knows no age. When my son started playing rugby, I got into it too, and it quickly became my favorite sport. After a few years in Milan, however, work took me far from home for an extended stay in Latin America, lasting more than 18 months, through Brazil, Mexico, and Chile. I learned to deeply appreciate my work and the challenges it has brought me over time. I’v

“Under ‘normal’ circumstances, you have time to plan everything: you choose the destination, you go to a travel agency, you gather information about the route and the most convenient means of transport; you book hotels and make a note of interesting places to visit… You plan a trip and look forward to it: you want to leave to discover new places, meet new people, try new foods, experience new cultures. The journey is your dream come true: first, you create it in your mind, then you live it in re

Per molto tempo ho avuto mal di testa e capogiri. Il mio medico di base continuava a dire che fosse colpa della cervicale, e così sono andata avanti per anni, convivendo con questi sintomi. I giramenti di testa e la sensazione di instabilità erano continui, al punto che finivo spesso per cadere. A un certo punto ho deciso di fare una risonanza magnetica, e il risultato è stato così preoccupante che il medico mi ha mandato subito al pronto soccorso di Trento. Ed è lì che tutto è cominciato. Il n

The stories we want to share now will talk about people who faced illness, fought for better health, and love. Here is a piece of writing that a dear friend and patient once virtuously shared with me, and now it is woven into the intricate fabric of anamnesis.life. “This is how I began to think of everything that was happening to me as an opportunity to learn something new. Slowness, for example. When we are well, we rush around, often chasing after urgencies and forgetting what is truly import