The past several weeks have been quite good indeed. I felt like I was coming out from under the foggy cloud of medication side effects and was finally making real progress with my new dysautonomia management plan.
To me, the biggest indicator of this was when I realized I’d gotten my stride back.
My father’s family is known for our big, fast walk—keeping a quick pace with a stride that’s a bit too broad. I hadn’t known that I’d lost my stride until I felt it suddenly kick in again while I was strolling around the neighborhood a couple of weeks ago. My strong, confident stride was back!
I have to tell you, it felt amazing.
And then, this past Saturday night, I had a medication mix-up. I accidentally took my 9 p.m. meds at 6 p.m., and vice versa. (I also stayed up way past my bedtime resolving an argument with Mike.) The immediate impact of the meds confusion was intense insomnia, followed by utter exhaustion in the daytime—alongside being unsteady on my feet, feeling dizzy, etc.
After all of my progress, that single mix-up set me back about 6 weeks.
It was frustrating not only to be feeling so completely yucky again, but also to realize just how fragile my health still is. Maybe I simply hadn’t had a deep enough foundation in my improvement and that’s why a one-time disruption had such a major impact. I’m hoping that’s the case, because 100-percent, full-time vigilance every day for the rest of my life—just so I can feel mostly good (but still limited in comparison to “normal” people)—is too tall an order to be realistic.
It also doesn’t give me much hope for eventually weaning myself off of these meds.
But Monday was better than Sunday. My big job for Monday was to simply stay awake—not so easy after two days of insomnia, but I was determined to get myself back on my sleep schedule. I was tired and had some of the “drunken drowsies” and episodes of near-syncope and the like, but it wasn’t as bad as Sunday. I still had trouble falling asleep Monday night, but it was easier than Sunday night, and Sunday had been easier than Saturday… I’m still not back to where I was Saturday morning, before all this happened, but I am gaining ground again. I hope.
The other night, I had pretty much the nerdiest dream ever.
My Dad and I were taking a road trip, and we’d stopped off at a convenience store. He was gathering up boxes and boxes and boxes of Twinkies and Hostess cupcakes, when I saw a familiar and chilling pair of eyes peering over the counter at me.
It was Gollum. Yes, that Gollum.
He leapt up and was muttering to himself about his precious, like he does, and then he held the ring out to me. [...]
In case you missed it, here’s a video of my reading at The Gnu’s Room in Auburn, Alabama. I read the infamous “Thor vs. the photocopier” selection from Valhalla (volume 1), and then we had a really good Q&A session following.
The “bracelet” I’m wearing in this video is actually the frayed collar of my cat, Osiris, who had passed away two nights prior.
I do have other updates to post—such as an “in memoriam” for Osiris, who died last week.
Many of you know that I was in Alabama last week for medical testing. I paid a visit to The Autonomic Disorders and Mitral Valve Prolapse Center in Birmingham.
The visit itself was fairly straightforward: echocardiogram, tilt table test, stress test, examination by and meeting with the doctor. But the impact could be nothing short of life-changing.
Some brief history: I’d been having various health problems (migraines, fatigue, IBS, dizziness, etc.) [...]
I had to take my website down for a bit overnight. The Akismet plugin was having some trouble, which dumped vast amounts of spam comments into my moderation cue and disabled my WordPress dashboard. Yeah, it was loads of fun.
So if you happened to leave a “real” comment for me recently, please resubmit! I don’t want to miss it.
I’m flying to Alabama this week for an appointment at the Mitral Valve Prolapse Center in Birmingham. There will be medical tests—echo, [...]
Some of you know I had a pretty big night earlier this week.
On Monday, I was the featured author at the monthly Authors in Pubs event. This was my eighth (I think) time participating in Authors in Pubs, but it was my first appearance as the headliner. If that wasn’t groovy enough, that’s the night that event organizer Don van Kirk arranged for KGW’s “Live @ 7″ program to do a segment from the Jack London Bar, where Authors in Pubs is held each month. Not only that, but when the TV crew asked Don for an author to [...]
There’s a certain amount of courage involved in living and working as a writer. Having the courage of your convictions, and the temerity to write them down and weave them into the action of your stories. Being outlandish enough to give your creative imagination free range on the page and/or screen while you explore one outrageous plot twist after another. And at some point down the road, having the audacity to invite readers into the world you’ve created.
Yeah, that’s awesome. But today, I’m [...]
|
Now available!
Valhalla: A YA urban fantasy romp through the Pacific Northwest with Norse gods, hungry Berserkers, a teenaged witch, a mystical tree and even some Voodoo Doughnuts!
|
