health advocacy for mental & physical wellbeing
My young adult life has proven to be a bit more difficult than I had expected. I have been plagued with chronic pain that has come with my delayed diagnoses of hip dysplasia, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and OCD. I have also recently lost my father to a terrible brain cancer. Here, I document my journey through life challenges while doing my best to focus on the gifts I have been given: dancing, creativity, art, friends, family and most importantly love. Thank you for joining me!
features on outside blogs
Nicole's Story: Dancing my way through pain
Posted on October 18, 2018 by Nicole Zizzi | Patient Stories
Tags: hip dysplasia, hip preservation, labral tear, orthopedics, pao surgery, performing artist athletes, sports medicine
Nicole and Alana: A friendship formed in dance
Posted on September 11, 2019 by Nicole Zizzi and Alana Rochford | Patient Stories
Tags: hip dysplasia, hip preservation, labral tear, orthopedics, pao surgery, performing artist athletes, sports medicine
PeriAcetabular Osteotomy = Persevere And Overcome
August 23, 2018 | Nicole Zizzi
follow me on my continued journey and join the conversation
I wouldn't be where I am today if it weren't for the community of support that I've built for myself. This includes my friends, my family, my incredible care and support team at both Boston Children's Hospital and Girl Fit Physical Therapy, and the Boston dance community. To everyone who has joined and supported me through this journey, I can't thank you enough. I am constantly reminded to never give up.
never give up the blog
![I’ve been quiet here the past few months bc things have been hard & i didn’t have the words to express myself at the time. But i’m going to try to get some of it out today…
My recovery has been infinitely harder for my RPAO than my LPAO. i’ve been having some strange neurological symptoms that didn’t happen last time. The sensory nerves in my right leg shut off after the surgery, i have no feeling down the entire back & outside of my leg. We’re still not sure what or why this happened but its possible its not even related to the surgery bc I’m also having trouble with the sensory nerves in my right arm, rib cage, & back. (cue another round of specialist frustrations)
The week I first started to try to walk at 2 months post-op, I had a full shoulder dislocation, which has confused me & my doctors bc if my shoulder was going to dislocate from weakness it likely would have happened while I was using the crutches…
There's still a lot of unknowns, which I am used to & have learned to deal with. But the part that has hit me the hardest is the lack of support I’ve received from my therapist, whom I’ve stopped seeing as of a few weeks ago.
My therapist was trained to work with autistic individuals but he was older so he was not sure what to do with me bc i can “communicate well” & i am engaged in “developmentally appropriate relationships.” He would try to help me with whatever emotional struggles I was having but would constantly tell me that i was “resistant” & “not trying,” to which I would need to remind him that I am autistic & change is hard for me. He could never remember that I was autisitc bc of harmful stereotypes.
The fact that I needed to constantly remind him that I am autistic made my therapy more hurtful than helpful. Its not the first time this has happened either, every therapist i’ve ever seen have expressed the same frustrations with me (which is wildly inappropriate in any therapeutic setting). I felt like there was something wrong with me bc even my therapists couldn’t understand me.
[Continued in comments]](https://scontent-lga3-3.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/619231277_18035589377547198_9043431129733936570_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_tt6&_nc_cat=106&ccb=7-5&_nc_sid=18de74&efg=eyJlZmdfdGFnIjoiRkVFRC5iZXN0X2ltYWdlX3VybGdlbi5DMyJ9&_nc_ohc=fTsgP7PUubsQ7kNvwFHBTk0&_nc_oc=AdqojC4RJ4gT__eTRJFTj9nfh62z7THT2xqkJWxso4rx2taI_ack5saprUJMksdWBmc&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-3.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&_nc_gid=qjFX2l5Ekm33-WaDmVR79A&_nc_tpa=Q5bMBQHMFSb72-haQ4OjD9cjrY30qVuUNh6BvrE69jrCL4FEMIXEQEMAFt6eHE_7_Hxf08gt6bexcOoZ&oh=00_Af543PTHooS_0sND9Re2gbkZjmwxAQ9gdbgy-wVMBQPmkg&oe=6A0B822D)
Check out more of my story as a volunteer storyteller with the national non-profit: This is My Brave.
community building & mental health advocay through dance
At the end of 2019, on the eve of the pandemic, Evolve Dynamicz produced LUCIDITY, a full evening length work of vignettes exploring the topic of mental health. Evolve Dynamicz told their stories of mental health through dance and choreography and were joined by performers of This is My Brave who also shared their experiences through verbal storytelling. The evening ended with a discussion, led by Nicole Harris of MonkeyHouse Dance, between performers and audience members with input from a panel of mental health professionals. The compassion in the theater was especially palpable.
![inter/intra [2018]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/007443_3584ccf59819452f941730bbfc8f7264f002.jpg/v1/fill/w_960,h_540,enc_auto/file.jpeg)
![latent vitality [2018]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/007443_e90ab56cb86a4de5b83cdd26cf29d418f002.jpg/v1/fill/w_960,h_540,enc_auto/file.jpeg)
