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(The scary, mechanized, Hindu, Baby-Doll Deity is by Michael deMeng)

I’m working on a new essay on suicide that very different from anything else I’ve ever done. I’m not ready to share it yet, but I really have high hopes for it. I just need to find the right venue for it. We will see.
I got so much accomplished yesterday that today I’m kind of at loose ends except for working on the new piece. My middle child is off fishing and the youngest is still in school. I’m starting to pack for the residency, getting together clothes and supplies for my dorm room. I need to shop for some new nightwear since I ruined a few pieces with my sickness episode last week. I’m planning to do that today after lunch.
I’m going to have a good lunch today. We went to the farmers market last weekend and I got a mess of purple hull peas. We had them last night for supper and I plan to eat the left overs for lunch today. I’m counting down the minutes until I can get into them over hot cornbread.
I need to work on my stuff for Defying Shadows soon. I really like writing for that site. Gets my name out there more in a different place. I have a piece on obsession due and another on a time I revealed my condition to someone and got a surprising reaction. So that will be interesting to do.
Hope everyone has a good rest of the week.
Posted in Read Along
I thought I would make a point to check in. I’m still alive. I’m still mainly doing well. I’m still waiting to hear back on that ADHD referral. I’ve had very mild spots of depression the last couple of weeks, but that’s a combination of little niggling things atop the severity of my chronic fatigue. I’ve had chronic fatigue since I was 14 (so over 20 years now), and my efforts to try to make it better/more manageable continue to fall on deaf ears. As a result, my non-daily blogs (and the network) have taken the brunt of my lack of spoons. I’m still here, I still care — I just don’t have the ability to turn that into executable actions. And even if I did manifest more spoons out of the blue, getting the youngest from school is taking a toll (albeit a very cute one).
Having said that, if anyone ever drops me a line, I do try to respond to that… not that I’ve been checking my emails lately. Once again, it requires too much energy and effort I don’t have to be ‘professional’. That shit is draining, yo.
But rest assured — I’m alive, I’m pretty happy on the whole, and my life is as satisfying as I can manage within the bounds of my chronic illnesses. I hope the same goes for all of y’all out there.
<3
Picture source: (Not pic of Bipolar Bandit and myself) Christine Kane’s Blog
I have been seeing Michelle for over a year now and she wanted me to share some tips that I have given her to better help manage her bipolar disorder. All in all, she copes with her bipolar disorder very well. She has held down multiple jobs, owns her own house, and although she still struggles with severe depression and serious manic episodes, her determination and drive have helped her conquer her illness.
She copes with her diagnosis well, but there is still work to be done as she now sees me frequently. She does not see me when she is depressed as she says “it does not help because it is a chemical imbalance and there is not much to talk about. She also has stated that it takes too much effort to leave her house to eve go the grocery store so getting to the appointment is hard.
I would have to say that she is one of my favorite patients when she is manic as she is kind and funny and her true personality shows through. She has even brought me gum because she found out I like to chew gum, is open and hones and jokes around and makes me laugh. I enjoy my time with her.
Here are some things we have learned together while I have been counseling her:
That is all for now, but I look forward to learning more about her and her family and give more advice in the future.
Posted in Read Along
Today was a first for me. It was the first time since I turned 18 that I didn’t vote in an election, whether National, Provincial or Municipal. I don’t think of myself as political in any way; however, I have … Continue reading