illness

The month of May: my COVID-19 story

  Posted on Facebook, May 1, 2020: Where to start??? I spent the last part of February and much of March obsessively watching the numbers of positive Covid-19 cases go up, and the number of affected states and counties gradually increasing as well. Once it was clear that community spread had begun, I remember thinking

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The last time I tried to do NaNoWriMo …

… I basically crashed and burned. It was last year, November 2015. I started out fairly well, as far as my word count and trying to do some amount of writing every day. I started writing the second book in what I’m hoping will be a three-book series. I had been trying to write the first

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Help me support a worthy cause

[TL;DR: I’m donating a portion of the sales of my poetry book, from now through the end of the year, to the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. There’s more info about them, and links, in the post below. My ebook is only 99 cents, a small amount for most people, and the more copies I sell,

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The last 2010 reading round-up

Yes, the year 2010 is done, and I feel like all the bloggers I follow have written their Year in Review posts, with lists, stats, and general thoughts on their reading for the past year…and I’m finally just starting mine. But in the space of life, what’s a few days’ delay, really? Not much. I

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This is your life. And THIS is your life on Coumadin.

For about three weeks, I’ve been taking the drug warfarin (approximate pronunciation WORF-uh-rin), the generic version of Coumadin. Coumadin is an anticoagulant, meaning it thins your blood to relieve blood clots in the body, and/or to prevent them from forming. It’s a powerful medicine, salvation for some people, but dangerous and potentially deadly as well.

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What we learned in Kansas City (from the handsome doctor)

Jeff and I went to Kansas City on Wednesday, to consult with an interventional radiology specialist about my condition. The neurologist I’ve been seeing here in Topeka referred me to KC to review my case, and my various X-rays, to determine whether more films need to be taken (and if so, when), and what other

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A video & picture of me, & more info about Horner Syndrome

Jeff recorded this video of me about a week ago. It’s my introduction to the uncommon condition called Horner Syndrome. I didn’t say anything in my video about the third symptom that’s usually mentioned, an absence of sweating on some areas of the affected side of the face, because unless it’s deep summer or you’re

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S.A.D. = Seasonal Affective Disaster

Yes, late October this year is about the same as late October every other year, when I’m ready to sob nearly every day, and usually for reasons insignificant or unclear. Crying jag last Monday evening, crying jag again last night, angry and moody moments today. But this year is different because of Horner’s syndrome, and

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