This has been a pretty intense week, to put it mildly. From sizeable craniotomy to grid placement to brain swelling to black eye swollen shut to intense pain and nausea necessitating heavy-duty meds to gradual and ongoing recovery, it’s certainly been one to remember. I’m in the EMU now, with the grids implanted. I continue … Continue reading Surgery Update, Week 1
We're at the hospital. I've already had a CT scan to guide the grid placement and changed into surgery couture. I'm wearing weird blue synthetic slipper things. This is, indeed, it.
I'm back in Toronto after a few mostly nice weeks in BC with my parents. For suspension-building purposes, I'll start with the good. The trip was pleasant in that it was, on the whole, relaxing, a great opportunity to see friends and family and to take care of myself while recovering from my recent concussion. … Continue reading Christmas CheER and Another Surgery Countdown
I'm supposed to be recovering from Surgery #1 at this very moment. Of course, Hillary Clinton is also supposed to be president-elect of the United States. In other words, these past few weeks have offered ample evidence that it's best not to take anything for granted—surgery dates (mine having been changed twice now, in each … Continue reading How Things Change(d)
This has been one of the most intensely emotional weeks of my life. And for epilepsy-surgery-related reasons, so you get to hear all about it! We've been busy preparing for my upcoming procedure, which, as regular readers are aware, was very recently scheduled for November 4th. Such little notice means/meant a lot to take care … Continue reading Surgery Delay, Intense Emotions
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
... 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 …
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
While having coffee with a friend yesterday morning, I missed a call from an unlisted number, which often, as I commented to said friend when I looked down at my phone, means a hospital. No voicemail. Grrrrrr. Coffee Friend and I had just been discussing how I've been eagerly—well, maybe "with a complicated mix of … Continue reading Cutting It Out(!): An Important Update
There was a new epileptologist doctor on duty today, and she suggested that I try sleep deprivation to get the seizure train rolling. This means staying up until four in the morning, sleeping until nine, then making it through the day without naps—which, to be honest, is an only slightly shifted and shortened version of … Continue reading Sleep Deprivation for a Cause
De Morbo Sacro: Life and/with Epilepsy 