His name was David. He was a good looking man in his forties, always well dressed with a regal bearing in spite of his disability. He was likely taller than me but I would never know that, for that first time I met him he was confined to an electric wheelchair. I never learned by…
An Excerpt from CRASH: In The Belly of the Whale At 3:00 a.m. August 21, 2010 I hit the wall: literally. Crowchild Trail, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada is a major traffic artery. Tens of thousands of commuters use Crowchild to get to and from work during the day. But at 3 in the morning the…
Most of my friends, and even much of my family, don’t quite get the fact that I am in pain constantly. That means, like, every minute of every day of every week of every month. Some ask, “How can you stand it?” I typically respond, “What choice do I have?” If I choose to live,…
I recently met with my new Pain Management Specialist. It was 1 of those “good news, bad news’ sessions. The good news? After reviewing 30 years of my medical history, he discovered that there was “nothing wrong with me physically”. YES, you heard that correctly! YES, I have been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia Syndrome and Chronic…
There are many sucky things about chronic pain. One of the biggest is the sheer unpredictability of it. For example, 2 days ago I was able to hop in the car and drive to and from the Town of Canmore, to have lunch with my daughter. Being able to drive 2 1/2 hours round-trip doesn’t…
The following is a brief excerpt from my forthcoming memoir, “Beyond the Pain”. I have had this urge to write but I have been avoiding it for some reason. So, I am sitting my ass down in the chair and having a go at it. My little old brain keeps getting distracted, wandering off to…
I thought I’d finally figured out a way to end the severe pain that’s been grinding me down for the last 40 days. I was wrong … again! The challenge is that I’m really not sure just what’s causing the pain. No question the exceedling damp, cold morning air triggers the pain. And, once the…
His name was Justin. 23 and still drunk at 5 in the morning. For some reason he had latched onto Ralph. Ralph was my morning coffee buddy on the cruise. Ralph, who looked 60, but was 79 was a gregarious, affable, “Eyetalian”. Now retired and living in SoCal, Ralph and I had struck up a…
Unemployment Soars! Another Canadian Soldier Dies In Afganistan! 7-Year Old Girl Sexually Assaulted! Crud, I so love listening to the news on my radio — NOT! It’s not like I wasn’t already feeling mucho stressed — which I KNOW because my Fibro pain has returned … and with a vengance! So, on my walk this…
I am in a dark, dreary, place soaking in melancholy. And, I LOVE it! The part of my brain that has an ounce of intellect left recognizes this “feeling”. My old FAMILIAR: the “dark side” of my Muse. In her ground breaking work, “Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and The Artistic Temperament“, author and manic-depressive,…