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
We were at the ER until 3 a.m. on Tuesday night. I woke up the next morning with a vague feeling that something had happened, a suspicion confirmed by the bling (hospital bracelet) still adorning my wrist. Following a chat with my husband, the filler-in-of-seizure-gaps, I still have only spotty first-hand recollections of our latest … Continue reading Back to the ER
If that sounded dirty, it was, but only because the culprit (i.e., the well-meaning but misinformed stranger trying to help) almost definitely hadn't washed his/her fingers before using them to try to stop me from dying from the oldest of epilepsy perils: tongue-swallowing. And on the off chance you're wondering why I'm upset that this … Continue reading Get Your Fingers Outta My Mouth
Remember how Topamax was working miracles, eliminating my convulsive seizures and transforming my days into a series of peaceful, anxiety-free, productive moments? (Slight—okay, major—hyperbole.) Well, the tonic-clonic seizure that I had last night reminded me that nothing lasts forever. Not true, actually: even the eponymous and moderately annoying Maroon 5 song is still around. But … Continue reading Breakthrough
I complain so much about the side effects of the anticonvulsants that I’ve been prescribed—the infamous Topamax, not Lamictal, which I also take but tolerate very well—that I forget how lucky I am to be able to afford these meds in the first place. When I go to the pharmacy to pick up a monthly … Continue reading Cost of Control
I’m currently on the waiting list to go back to the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit at a hospital in my city so that my epileptologist can capture more data about my seizure activity. The prospect of a week or two of hospital time isn’t exactly thrilling, but at least there’s potential for productive information gathering and … Continue reading Cutting It Out
