As I write this, it’s 6:20 a.m. I realize that many—most?—members of the workforce are awake now, but being on a leave of absence, I have no incentive to be up at this hour. And hey, this is a medical leave of absence, and my seizure frequency increases when I don’t get enough sleep. (Seriously, … Continue reading Bad Neighbour
Now that I have more time on my hands, I have no excuse not to cook. Except for one, and it's pretty legit: I'm really, really bad at it. When it comes to food, I'm a good-enoughist. I enjoy eating, but not as much as I enjoy reading and alphabetizing my book collection. I'd thus rather … Continue reading The “Joy” of Cooking
Last summer, my mom bought me a Fitbit, which, for the unacquainted, is more or less a glorified, technologically advanced pedometer. The variety I got—the Zip—discretely clips on your belt, in your pocket, in your purse, or wherever else you choose to carry it and comes in a selection of colours to suit your preference. … Continue reading OCD and the Fitbit
A few weeks after I went to the doctor following my first seizure, I got a letter from the Ontario Ministry of Transportation revoking my learner's permit. My expired learner’s permit. Brutal, right? For multiple obvious and valid reasons, the inability to drive is one of the biggest practical and social issues faced by people … Continue reading Drive to Drive
One of the worst parts of the morning after a “big seizure” (technical term) is being too brain dead—figuratively, of course—to think properly, hence the uncreative title of this post. On the plus side, however, I can blame any typos/inelegant sentence constructions/etc. on my neurons’ latest riot. Anyway, I decided that it was high time … Continue reading What It’s Like to Be Postictal (in My Own Very Personal Experience)
For the first time in as long as I can remember, I haven't been looking forward to Labour Day. Seeing as I seamlessly transitioned from taking to instructing courses, I’ve never lost that fall “going back to school” excitement/anticipation despite being in a year-round doctoral program. I love the rhythms and structure of the academic … Continue reading (Not Going) Back to School
I apologize if you find the title at all insensitive. I tried to resist—I really did—but alas: I'm a sucker for a pun. If it's any comfort, all shaking to which I refer in this post is expressly my own. We’re flying to North Carolina on Saturday for a week in the Outer Banks with … Continue reading Shakes on a Plane
As almost everyone with access to media of any kind knows by now, Robin Williams committed suicide yesterday morning. While he was relatively open about his battle with mental illness, a cross-section of the many, many reactions to his death on my Facebook feed—mostly sadness and shock—suggests that few people were aware that he faced … Continue reading Why It’s Important, and Will Be Important, to Think about Robin Williams’ Death
Mildly exciting news! On the advice of a friend who's much tech-savvier than I am, I finally decided to create a De Morbo Sacro Facebook page. Thrilling, right?? Here's the link. (There's also a widget—I think that's the technical term?—in the footer of this blog. I'm learning.) If you feel like helping me spread epilepsy awareness via a … Continue reading Facebook Page
(First off, a disclaimer: what follows is by no means intended to make you feel bad if you haven’t been using "ideal" language to describe people with epilepsy, unless you’ve been purposefully going around disparagingly shrieking “epileptic”/teasing kids with epilepsy on the playground/wreaking general havoc on the epilepsy universe, in which case I have many, … Continue reading Watch Your Language
De Morbo Sacro: Life and/with Epilepsy 