If it’s true that our experiences are based on perception .. what we pay attention to, then I’ve been doing it wrong. I talk a good game about staying positive. So good, in fact, that I’d fooled even myself. The truth, though, is that I’d begun to define myself by the state of my health.... Continue Reading →
I've been reading a lot of blog posts recently. Especially the ones written by chronic illness sufferers. You guys are the best! It's hard .. sharing how your lives are affected by your illnesses. All the down and dirty details and your methods for coping. It's not a community anyone wants to join .. living in the... Continue Reading →
It's easy to get caught up in our own life's difficulties. I'm not necessarily one to 'woe is me' but I've been known to perseverate thanks to a hint of OCD. Having an undiagnosed neurological disorder causes those pesky W's of elementary school English to plague me at times. Well, that and a fundamental desire to use knowledge as... Continue Reading →
You may not be able to find limbo land on a map but I can assure you, it's a very real place. It's that space between first having symptoms and becoming diagnosed. For some .. the lucky ones .. it's a fleeting visit. For others, like me, we realize we should have packed more because we're going... Continue Reading →
The term hysteria is derived from the Greek word for uterus. It was thought in ancient days that women's wombs would travel around their bodies causing a host of maladies. Faintness, nervousness, insomnia, hallucinations, sexual desire and even a 'tendency to cause trouble' were all believed to be part and parcel of this disorder. While the days of diagnosing... Continue Reading →
Happiness means such different things to different people. It isn't a stroke of luck or something we're born with. It's a choice .. a series of choices, really, regardless of the challenges we face or the situations we find ourselves in. It's a recipe that's put together depending on our tastes. For some it's a heaping portion of wealth, a dollop of good health and... Continue Reading →
It wasn't long ago that my life was the ordinary, wonderful kind. Work, kids, friends, family. Remarkable really, that juggling we do in order to keep all those precarious balls in the air. We're the generation of multi-taskers, relishing in the busy-ness .. and I was killing it ...until I wasn't. I'd like to say... Continue Reading →
It all started on a Saturday with a bit of blurry vision. We had loaded the kids in the car for a quick weekend visit to Grandma and Grandpa's house and while I was more tired than usual all seemed fine. The blurriness continued into the next day and was joined by fatigue .. not the... Continue Reading →
It's in our nature to question, to want answers to explain the world around us and our individual experiences. It begins early as any parent of a toddler can attest. Why? How? What? When? These are empirical questions .. the answers offer us the opportunity to explore, form opinions and gain understanding. Some people are more willing than others... Continue Reading →
After my brother died someone thoughtlessly expressed that I was now an only child. At the time, I didn’t have the presence of mind to explain how very wrong or insensitive this comment felt to me. Losing my only sibling didn’t make me an only .. it made me a one less. After all, who... Continue Reading →
Dear Stiff Person Syndrome, This letter’s been a long time coming, three years, in fact, plus a few days. I count them, you know .. each and every one. They all represent another moment that takes me further from the life I knew and loved. I’d hoped that if I waited, I could write this... Continue Reading →
One step forward, two steps back 