Authored by: Carmen Hartgerink: Contributor for The Mighty

We all know that what we see on Facebook isn’t always what exactly happens in real life. Everybody posts the good stuff. They want to show off, show the progress that’s happening in their lives, and boast about the highlights of what’s happening in their life. Well, here’s the inside scoop of what my reality actually looks like vs. what I like to show on Facebook.

Read more of Carmen’s Journey on The Mighty

Carmen is from Ottawa, Canada. As for now, she’s a stay-at-home mom to her beautiful little girl but before that, she worked in a group home setting with folks who have developmental disabilities. Back in April 2015, she was rushed into emergency surgery, where the surgeons discovered that her small intestine had twisted and become necrotic. After two surgeries, all that remained was 5 centimeters of her duodenum (small intestine) and 36 inches of her large intestine. She is now looking at a lifetime of being on total parenteral nutrition. She is now trying to figure life out while being attached to an IV bag 12 hours of the day, chasing after a toddler, and trying her best to be lead as normal a life as possible.