As has seemed to be the case on several occasions on this epilepsy “journey” of mine, I’ve once again gone from what’s felt like an excruciating, never-ending waiting game to a sudden, overwhelming flurry of activity. I got a call yesterday afternoon from my neurosurgeon’s office. They had a cancellation for next Friday. Could I … Continue reading (Sudden) Countdown to Craniotomy: One Week
I've decided to continue to grant you a brief reprieve from long-winded stories about my hair, but only because I want to talk at too-great length about the almond-shaped collection of neurons in my right temporal lobe that's been at the top, figuratively speaking, of my mind for the past few days. I've always preferred … Continue reading My Amygdala, Myself
In case the title of this post didn't clue you in, I'm about to give a brief history of my hair, inspired by the series of increasingly drastic haircuts I've been getting leading up to pre-surgery head-shaving. It is thus completely understandable, even admirable, if you choose to stop reading. Can't say I didn't warn … Continue reading Hairstory (Part I: Childhood)
I have a few other posts in the works, but in the meantime (i.e, to buy a few days while I finish them), here's a short update on how "things" are going. Short because not much is happening, since I'm currently stuck, not by choice, in a holding pattern as I . . . wait. … Continue reading Holding Pattern
... let them cut into your brain anyway? My attitude towards the procedure I'm supposed to have sometime over the next month or two (I'm still waiting for a date, which is its own kind of stressful) seems to have entered a new phase that I'll call "full-blown fear." Or, I guess, fear mixed with … Continue reading Feel the Fear and …
My husband and I have an ongoing narrative/discussion/negotiation/argument regarding how often I should wear my helmet-toque, the headgear about which I'm sure I've written in a past post (that I won't bother digging up for laziness reasons). His, probably correct, opinion: I should don it almost all the time. My fuelled-by-a-desire-to-preserve-the-last-shreds-of-dignity-in-a-life-currently-coloured-by-loss-of-control one: helmet-toque as protective … Continue reading Helmet-Toque Negotiations and the Search for (the Last Remaining Shreds of) Dignity
I had my follow-up at the osteoporosis clinic this morning to find out the results of the tests ordered the last time and to be told the doctor's recommendations for next steps. (This meant, of course, that I was flipping out last night, at least on the inside, and briefly considered rescheduling. In the end, … Continue reading Osteoporawesome: Good News at the Osteoporosis Clinic
This is the first September in as long as I care to remember that I'm not returning to school, whether as a student or a teacher or both (besides a few years ago, when I was on a medical leave of absence, but that hardly counts). Granted, the primary reason that I'm not among the … Continue reading September “Back to School” Reflections on Everything Staying the Same
My husband and I landed in Prince Edward Island last Saturday, and he flew back to Toronto a few days ago; I'm staying on an extra week to spend time with my dad and grandparents (and various other PEI friends and loved ones). The period that the two of us were here together with the … Continue reading Temporary Islanders
We're supposed to be in NC at the beach right now with my husband's side of the family for a relaxing week of relaxing: a break, surrounded by people we care about, in one of my favourite places on earth. We'd both been looking forward to it for weeks—months, even—and had been using it to … Continue reading Beach Bummer: Complicated Feelings about a Cancelled Trip
De Morbo Sacro: Life and/with Epilepsy 