By mid-September, I could carefully maneuver most places with a cane, albeit a bit tipsy on occasion. My legs still fought me over stairs, but I showed them who was boss with some fancy cane and rail-holding techniques. My mouth … Continue reading
I spent all of August and part of September helping my one Amazing, Fabulous, Glorious Over-Achieving Brain Cell recruit others in kind of an Amway-esque pyramid scheme. You get five friends and they get five friends and down the line, … Continue reading
Thank you for your patience during this uncharacteristically long intermission. We now resume our regularly scheduled program, already in progress. The day following my free-wheeling, jibberish-hollering, whooptie-do through the winding corridors of my apartment complex, my helper decided that I … Continue reading
For three weeks I slept. Except for a few now-and-then spoonfuls of soup or jell-o, I slept — sometimes quietly, sometimes with the small sounds of one in discomfort falling over the bridge of my lips. Prescription pain medications gave … Continue reading
The body is a brilliant creature. Every system, each organ, the totality of its container and all it contains is designed for survival. It fights. It flees. It heals itself with near miraculous efficiency. It grins and grimaces through it … Continue reading
The night before brain surgery is supposed to be a fitful tracing along the corridor of one’s past; an examination of a life before its intersection with an event that will forever change the examiner. For me? I slept. I … Continue reading
With a big squirt of Valium sluicing its way through my body, it seemed there was no end to the “wheee” on that surgery table ride. Surrounded by a staff of hand-patters and atta-girlers, the process of finding a blood … Continue reading
July 4, 1994: The day before I was to enter the hospital, the dear folks in my apartment complex got together and threw me a surprise “It Was Nice To Know You” party. Hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill … Continue reading
Diagnosis night I took my MRI films to show off to my neighbor and friend, Toni. We drank tea and made up the lamest brain jokes we could devise. Knock knock. Who’s there? Brain. Brain who? Hahaha. Fooled ya! Lights … Continue reading
A herd of deer congregate each morning and evening on the golf course outside our hotel room. We stand on our second floor patio, holding a glass of wine, and marveling at their tender habits. I wished to take it … Continue reading