I have told my story a gazillion times. Well, okay, maybe not a gazillion. But between insurance docs, my docs, vocational and functional assessments for the insurers, therapists, new recent docs, it sure seems like it’s been a gazillion. So you’d think by now it would be no big deal. I could go into some…
Tag: Personal
Going into Camp NaNo Deficit
It was a tough week, writing wise. I was having trouble with where my teen romance novel was going; worse, I was having trouble with how to navigate the writing life in Canada itself. As many of you may not know, there is anti-female writer and anti-visible minority bias on the part of reviewers (and…
Has It Been Eleven Days of Camp NaNo Already?
My, time flies when you’re novelling or rather dragging your feet as your fingers make futile efforts to type. On the up side, though I fell behind in word count, though I sank into a lull, though I wanted to chuck the whole thing, I only ever missed one day of writing. And I’m pretty…
Sleep Study in the Raw: The Results
I got my results. They weren’t anything unexpected — for the most part. This was my fifth (I think … I’ve lost count) overnight sleep study, and the results of each have been pretty much the same. And the solution has been as well. I did this sleep study in the raw, that is, without…
Kouign Amann, The First Time
I was flipping through David Lebovitz’s Flipboard articles on my iPad when I came across a recipe for Kouign Amann. I’d never heard of it before, but the photos, his descriptions – I wanted! I had the ingredients on hand. I read and reread the recipe. I studied the comments from people who’d actually tried…
Jan Wong and the Muzzling of Free Speech in Canada
I caught the end of Jan Wong’s interview on Metro Morning on CBC Radio 1 Monday last week. Matt Galloway asked her why she wrote her book Out of the Blue. She answered with an experience I find so familiar. People think we have freedom of speech in Canada, but lawyers routinely muzzle Canadians. Privacy…
Clinical Trial Woes
Sooo … I was in a clinical trial recently. It was, uh, interesting being on the other side of the guinea pig fence. The drug did more than expected. And then it was taken away! But I get ahead of myself. It was March 1 when this story began. I saw a new specialist and…
What is Good Standard of Health Care?
Standard of care. It’s a phrase that gets tossed around a lot. Let me tell you a story about what it should not be, especially for a person in a drug research trial. Before I begin, a note on my background. I grew up as the daughter of a clinician-researcher who is to this day,…
What Doctors Don’t Know: Brain Injury Equals Weight Gain
Weight loss. The entirety of North American society is grappling with weight loss. With diet. With exercise. With staying at a healthy weight. But believe it or not, people with brain injuries struggle even more than the typical North American. We struggle more because we may no longer be able to perceive that one’s stomach…