Tis the season of the World Cup. For those who do not know the World Cup, it is the biggest sporting event in the world. It’s the Olympics of soccer. Each nation that earned the slot to partake in the games, brings their finest, and play to win. It’s the Olympics of soccer. Each nation…
I recently did something quite out of character: I read several books about others going through life changing illness. I tend to avoid these books like the plague, partly because if I tend to read books to escape, not compare, and in the past had found little comfort when I had read the stories. Two books were so excellent, that I want to share them with you.
It started with the door bell ringing and my mom answering to find a little girl, about 5 years old, with a tomb-boy demeanor on our front step.
“Hello. Can I help you?” My mom, who is very sweet with kids, asked.
“My name’s Holly. Can your daughter come outside to play?”
The most heart-crushing, soul-center truth about living as a medical mystery is this: you don’t know what you do know, and you don’t know what you don’t know. In other words: we, (the medical community), can not state that we have identified every body system, every element that does not work, or ...
when I was 14, six months before I lost all movement, before my world became limited, I was on a winter holiday with my family, in which skiing was the center objective. I, at the time, was not a fan of skiing. Never mind the fact that I had only ever been skiing once when I was six years old; to put it simply, I felt it was not for me.
Life can be such a surprise. For example, I never would have imagined I would meet one physical therapist who would give me the tools to not just survive but thrive with my medical mystery. But then again, that's exactly what she did.
It would be easy to construe, based on the name of my blog, that my health / physical limitations defined my world. That, if we were meeting me face to face, it would be my primary topic of conversation. If I have been successful in my efforts, than I have to say, that is not the case.
Finally, I have an update as to the feedback I received from the article I was featured in, All She Wants for Christmas is to Find Someone with Matching Symptoms” by Gina Dewink . I received so many emails, which I was very appreciative of, ...
Annoyingly, I came down with pneumonia right after Christmas. I was blessed that by having weak lungs it made me extremely sensitive to it, allowing for it to be caught early. On the flip side,...
Since the first couple of years of being sick, I always wanted to turn my wheelchair into a “sleigh.” I thought it would be fun. This year, with a serious lack of Christmas Cheer, I decided to take my own initiative.
If hope were a man, we’d have a very passionate relationship. You know the kind, volatile. Throwing things at each other and yelling at the top of our lungs, or spooning and being all sappy-happy. There would be no in-between.
Like so much of the U.S., we recently have been experiencing a cold blast, almost heralding in the arrival of the holidays. With the crackling wind, it reminded me of a fun memory from a few years back when we had received a heavy dusting of snow. Watson, my friend, at-one-time-caregiver, and all around medical-co-conspirator, was spending the day with me...
There are a lot of things I may miss that I am not able to partake in, but the Magic Tea Cup ride is not among them. If you are thinking, yes, naturally, that’s something you can say you experienced and not miss out on, well, I must correct you. The reason I do not
In a previous blog, I shared a dreaded task that I have down to an absolute science, countless times: the new patient forms. And this post, I will share what comes after that, more of the end result, the part that I have no coping skills with.
As I shared in the last blog, I was getting ready to go to my sister’s wedding. I went and the most important thing happened: my sister was a radiant, giddily happy bride. Second to that, my family, as usual, went above and beyond so that I could enjoy and endure as long as possible.
Soon my family will be expanding, and with the celebration of a wedding, Camelot and I will be going on a trip to take part. Such excursion require planning with military exactness, something my mother specializes in. Me? I like to daydream that I am easy going, ....
Not long ago I received a query email through my blog, asking if I wanted to take part in a television documentary series episode. Yes, I blinked. And then I blinked again. Then, ...
I admire those people in life who endure their bittersweet anniversaries by powering through them. They are the ones who don’t dwell on the past, but immerse themselves in the present. I envy that quality. Me? I look back. I remember the colors, the faces, the smells, the sounds. In my mind I visit it like an old friend.
When Camelot was still a young fellow, we came across a wall I knew had to be jumped. Both literally and metaphorically. When he was budding on dog-adolescence, I realized that I needed to make him see that he could trust me, no matter what the circumstance. I wanted him to trust my judgment...
It would be dishonest to portray that I am always on the sunny side of life. When I am stuck in the fog internally, when my gumption drive is all out of gas, and the point in dealing with the physical pain becomes too much, I have a choice to make.
