Yesterday marked another important milestone in my slow journey back to life: I made a trip to a large craft store for the first time in recent memory. It was pretty great. My husband and I had decided to break up the normal tedium with a date day, our version of which entailed a streetcar … Continue reading Home Is Where the Floss Is
All hail Alanis. (With that out of my system, I can now proceed.) I’ve been finding it really hard lately to accept help from PSWs. There are several reasons for this, chief among them that support workers represent, to me, what I’ve lost in terms of independence. As I’ve become increasingly capable, I’ve also become … Continue reading All I Really Want
My parents called this morning to remind me that it’s an important anniversary, one I honestly would’ve forgotten had they not remembered. Exactly a year ago, I regained the ability to speak. Though I hadn’t known the precise date, I do remember the moment. There had been some buildup to to it, and my anticipation, … Continue reading The Gift of Gab
I like to tell myself that everyone has those “yeah right, medical professionals, quit the hyperbole and lemme do what I’m gonna do” moments. Aren’t I, after all, the expert on my own body? (History would suggest otherwise, in my case, but I’ll conveniently brush over that part.) Don’t hold me back! I’m regrowing a … Continue reading The Flip Side of a Flop
As soon as I heard myself say it, I burst into the kind of self-aware laughter that’s been coming to me frequently and spontaneously as of late. I’d been obsessing about something I did a little compulsively (all of this in a very OCD manner, of course), and, as I am wont to do, I … Continue reading “Should I Be …”
My husband returned to work on Thursday after a five-day weekend. He spent most of it recouping, running errands, and going to appointments of his own. On Tuesday, however, we took advantage of his weekday availability to venture out of our neighbourhood for the first non-medical-appointment time since I was discharged. We’ve devoted a lot … Continue reading Random Acts of Nerding
It’s been a week. A good one, in some regards, but also a very challenging one. I’ve had a few health blips and a couple of appointments that’ve forced me to stop evading uncomfortable realities. Facing the future—particularly when aspects of it are uncertain—remains a huge stumbling block. Parts of me would rather cruise along … Continue reading Stitches
(I wrote this yesterday and forgot to post it, but the sentiments remain!) Yup. It’s Purple Day (for epilepsy awareness), and, despite having had a seizure last night, I woke up beaming this morning with what can only be described as … wait, is this what unsullied happiness feels like? I’m in a very different … Continue reading Purple Day Is Here, and I’m Super Happy
The fact that I’m home, in a new home I’d never stepped foot in (rolled into?) before last Sunday, is almost surreal. Sleeping in the same room as my husband? Eating at the same table? What is this? A beautiful, deeply satisfying, work in progress. As you likely anticipated, there’s a catch, for with the … Continue reading Home New Home
That’s right, friends. In approximately an hour and after nine months, give or take, I’ll be discharged. I’d be lying if I claimed that I’m not a little nervous. Change, especially change this big, is hard. As I wrote about in much greater detail in my last post, there are major ways in which my … Continue reading Happy Home Day!
De Morbo Sacro: Life and/with Epilepsy 