Hitting Four Weeks and Experiencing Emotions

It's been almost a month. Crazy. It's been almost a month, and I'm not sure when I'll be discharged, but it definitely won't be in the next few days, and I'm secretly happy that it won't be in the next few days since a little part of me knows that it isn't time to go home yet. My … Continue reading Hitting Four Weeks and Experiencing Emotions →

EMU: It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a Long and Unpleasant Hospital Stay!

It looks like I have a tentative date—or date range, anyway—for an admission to the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit at a hospital here in Toronto. Yay! Yay. Yay? Ugh. I have, as I’ve probably made evident, conflicted emotions about this. On the one hand, it has to happen eventually, and I’ve waited a long time for … Continue reading EMU: It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a Long and Unpleasant Hospital Stay! →

Stretches: Unreasonable Expectations and Consolation Prizes

So, as many of my Facebook friends (hey guys!) among my readership know, I'm now entering day five of a seizure-free stretch. I at first attributed this amazing development to the annual kickoff of my almost-daily trips to Menchies, but yesterday I got my froyo elsewhere, so there might be—shocker—some actual medical explanation for it. … Continue reading Stretches: Unreasonable Expectations and Consolation Prizes →

Crash Course

So, I hit my head last Monday in the usual mid-seizure way, which resulted in a “mild” concussion (“mild” in quotation marks because I wasn’t told that it’s mild but just assume/decided it is to make myself feel better). I know, I know: it’s like every time I knock my brains around, they miraculously get … Continue reading Crash Course →

Happy Purple Day! (And an Ill-Conceived Children’s Book Idea)

When my brothers and I were kids, we tried to convince my parents that there should be mythical gift-bearing creatures associated with non-gift holidays: the Thanksgiving Rat, for example. With this history of attempting to cheat my way into extra toys, I casually suggested to my husband this morning that there should be a Purple … Continue reading Happy Purple Day! (And an Ill-Conceived Children’s Book Idea) →

Special Skill(s): Reflections on Worst-Case-Scenario Thinking and How Teaching Is Taking Over My Life and Brain

It’s Reading Week, the toned-down, much-colder, Canadian version of Spring Break and a much needed few days to focus on things like not obsessively planning lessons and figuring out who I am as a person when I’m not making PowerPoint presentations. I’ve settled into a bit of a groove now and started to remember why … Continue reading Special Skill(s): Reflections on Worst-Case-Scenario Thinking and How Teaching Is Taking Over My Life and Brain →

“Frazzled University Instructor with Epilepsy” and PowerPoint: A Love Story

Until three weeks ago, I was adamant that I'd never use PowerPoint as a classroom tool. As are many things I pretentiously reject, it was perfectly acceptable for other people, but I was happy with chalk and, you know, my voice. More to the point, I hate change and am technologically inept. And then I … Continue reading “Frazzled University Instructor with Epilepsy” and PowerPoint: A Love Story →

Seizures and the Search for Silver Linings

This'll come as a shock to you, especially delivered by someone as "eternally positive" (hahahahahahaha) as I am, but life's full of disappointments. I've found, since developing epilepsy, that this is particularly true when one has a chronic illness that involves unpredictable brain malfunctions. So in an effort to combat how letdowns of all varieties affect my … Continue reading Seizures and the Search for Silver Linings →

Muffins: A Post about Nothing and Everything, but Mostly about Nothing

I realize that nobody cares about my food obsessions, but since this is my blog and, as a result, my little egotistical corner of the universe, I can write about whatever I want, whether related to epilepsy, OCD, depression, academia, etc. or not. Today I'm tired of my problems, so I will focus my energies … Continue reading Muffins: A Post about Nothing and Everything, but Mostly about Nothing →

Pill Organization and Eternal Love

In what amounted to a grand romantic gesture, my husband surprised me by filling my long-abandoned pill organizer while I was on campus the other day. There've been a few times over the past month in which I've had a seizure in an unfortunate window that left unclear whether I'd already taken my evening meds. Of … Continue reading Pill Organization and Eternal Love →