As Canada locks down to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Toronto—the city in which I live—has taken bold, necessary steps to “flatten the curve.” Elementary and secondary schools are closed. Public libraries are closed. Most retail outlets are closed. Universities have transitioned to online learning. Lots of other stuff has happened in the gap between … Continue reading A COVID-19 Post to Add to the Millions in Your Inbox (Please Read!)
Tag: neurology
Another Update
Hey! 👋 It’s me with another of my incredibly sporadic updates. There’s been a lot going on in my brain over the past few weeks, so naturally I'm choosing now, when I’m most likely to commit egregious spelling and grammar errors and to produce a longwinded and disjointed post, to break my blog silence. If … Continue reading Another Update
Eight Weeks, and All I Have to Show for Them Is a Mostly Unedited Blog Post (and lots of empty Ensure Plus bottles and many seizures and significant progress)
For several weeks, I kept going back to the same now-musty post in my drafts folder, making minor changes, staring at what I’d written, and then inevitably becoming overwhelmed and distracted by other tasks, 9.5 times out of 10 a meal or a bottle of Ensure Plus. It was time to acknowledge that the longer, … Continue reading Eight Weeks, and All I Have to Show for Them Is a Mostly Unedited Blog Post (and lots of empty Ensure Plus bottles and many seizures and significant progress)
Some Positive VNS News in the News
Yes, I mean news news, not news of the personal-and-complainy variety. Yesterday I ran across this article about five-year-old Emma, who's the first patient in Canada to have the most recently released VNS model implanted. When she was seven months old, Emma was diagnosed with the seizure disorder infantile spasms (IS); her parents are hosting an … Continue reading Some Positive VNS News in the News
Epilepsy in the News: GO Transit, Questions of (in)Accessibility, and an Angry Blogger
This video and article about a young girl (Pepper) with epilepsy whose parents were told that she couldn't ride an accessible GO Transit car popped up in my social media feeds a few days ago. As you might imagine, it made me so, so angry. In the interests of encouraging you to click this link so … Continue reading Epilepsy in the News: GO Transit, Questions of (in)Accessibility, and an Angry Blogger
A Short, Self-Congratulatory, and Poorly Edited Post (I Went on a Trip and Didn’t Die!)
As I write this, I'm on my way home from the vacation in British Columbia that I had to reschedule last month. As I actually post this, I've been back in Toronto for several days. This means that I made it to my departure date without needing to reschedule for a second time; made it to … Continue reading A Short, Self-Congratulatory, and Poorly Edited Post (I Went on a Trip and Didn’t Die!)
Some Frozen Treats I’ve Eaten This Summer, Most of Which Were Delicious
In my last post, I promised that the next one would be about ice cream. Since I’m a woman of my word, here are ten paragraphs about ice cream. Count 'em. I began writing this post as I greet each new day: by making a list. Since along with being a woman of my word … Continue reading Some Frozen Treats I’ve Eaten This Summer, Most of Which Were Delicious
July in Two Words (So What?)
On this first day of August, I've been looking back over the last month and realizing that a major part of my doing-my-best-to-shrug-off-all-the-stuff-I-feel-powerless-about-and-thus-resent strategy in July was to repeat a simple phrase to myself, usually, but not always (being the awkward person I am), in my head. I've grown to appreciate the power of these … Continue reading July in Two Words (So What?)
Postponed Trip, Surprisingly Positive Attitude
I slowly worked on a post about a then-upcoming solo trip to Victoria and about how much it meant to me and about how significant it was, etc. etc., for over a week but didn't manage to finish it because I kept having health setbacks that made it difficult both to articulate what I wanted … Continue reading Postponed Trip, Surprisingly Positive Attitude
It’s Officially Summer, and I’m Not Sure Why I’m Not Dreading the Next Few Months
Friday was the first day of summer, the summer solstice, and my husband's birthday. It was one of the first truly warm and sunny days of 2019, my wonderful mother-in-law was visiting, and even though I was/am still slowly emerging from a pretty rotten couple of weeks, the cause(s) of this rottenness likely triggered by … Continue reading It’s Officially Summer, and I’m Not Sure Why I’m Not Dreading the Next Few Months







