All about RosaLilla
Well hey there! Let me introduce myself. I’m Nicola and I live on the West Coast of Ireland in the cobble street town of Galway.
Life before this blog was very different for me. After spending 5 years in college I qualified as a Medical Scientist and loved working in a busy hospital lab doing blood tests for the patients in hospital to figure out what was wrong with them. I’m a secret nerd and I loved it! Little did I know just how sick I was.
Way back in 2000 I spent a carefree summer in Montauk New York. At the end of the summer I got a nasty insect bite but didn’t think anything of it but by the time I got home I was very sick. Coincidentally my doctor ran some tests and discovered that I was pregnant so everything was put down to that. By the end of the pregnancy I was in heart failure and myself and my son nearly died.
Anyway long story short I recovered from the heart failure and started my career in the hospital. I never felt myself and struggled through many years trying to work and be a single mum with a myriad of new symptoms. In 2009 I met my prince charming in the form of a rugged music loving festival mad guy just like me and we clicked. It was perfect.
Shortly after meeting Mr. Lavin my health deteriorated to the point that instead of being my prince charming wining and dining me he became my carer having to carry me up the stairs and spoon fed me. Shortly after this I got the word that that insect bite in New York had given me Lyme disease and this was the reason for my worsening health over a 17 year period!
I won’t go into detail about how awful Lyme disease is but trust me it is horrible. I soon found that I couldn’t do the 9-5 job anymore. I was unreliable because I would work a day and need 3 days to recover and nobody has that much annual leave! My brain was also mush and I just didn’t trust myself in the lab anymore. It was so overwhelming. I do hope to go back to it when I’m better but for now I had to give in to the Lyme and trust me I did grieve for my career and the life I loved. But I’m not going to let a little old thing called Lyme stop me and I had to readjust and by doing that I found my voice.
Blogging and documenting my life on instagram kept me sane and gave me a purpose again, so All about RosaLilla was born. And who knew it would be this fun! Follow me if you want to learn all my thoughts on life and to follow on my adventures as I am determined to travel the globe and maybe drag Mr. Lavin along. I’ve discovered that people are really interested and I have a large following on instagram so I am embracing this new influencer lifestyle. As they say when life gives you lemons make lemonade or in my case when life gives you lime (lyme) make martinis.
To learn more about my Lyme journey, you can read:
My Lyme Story. How I survived Lyme Disease
You can follow me on Instagram here. I share all the best pics!
For collaboration enquiries please email [email protected]
