SOOVit
So many great things happen when you turn 50! Here are some friends I didn’t expect to pop around. But then again, with all the resting on the toilet, endless spasms of [...]
August 22nd, 2020
1:13 pm
November 9th, 2019
9:09 pm
Foam! I Found Foam!
Foam! I Found Foam! Am I excited today! As I progress this path of pain, I retain my non-negotiable pointers – one of which is my need for my custom made seating aid. I would love to ditch this damn thing from under my backside and from my clutch every time I go out for a seated event, but it's just too valuable for my capacity. Figuring out the big 'dangers in me' (remember we talked about DIMS and SIMS?) has been key to my pacing forward.
July 12th, 2018
11:39 am
GPs Are Your Patient G.P.S
(Image from my book, Art & Chronic Pain – A Self Portrait) Navigating the horrific pain journey is complex enough. Patients need GPs who steer them to appropriate treaters via the shortest [...]
May 27th, 2018
3:45 pm
I Turned a Corner
Theo and I continue to establish our new life in Queenscliff and are enjoying the many wonderful new aspects of our new lifestyle. We're also learning to manage the sacrifices. It makes me feel I've turned a corner. Home Then Actually, a couple of weeks ago, I literally did turn a corner. After staying in Melbourne for a special family lunch, during the evening we also managed to catch up with old friends on our old pavement. I kind of felt a little emotional pang when I turned into the city end of Gertrude Street and saw the magnolias enjoying the Autumn evening light and the little drizzle that was beginning. Very steadily pacing my drinks, the night saw us hop around our old favorite spots. The life turn happened when I stepped out of the Everleigh and instead of turning right to head 'home', Theo and I turned left to head to a city hotel. We were going to sleep at this hotel, wake up in the morning and return to Queenscliff. Theo had to work... Sunday. I don't often have overwhelming emotional moments. I really deal with life's activities quite well. I mean, who would I think I was expecting a perfect life run, right? 'Suck it up!' But this was one of those overwhelming emotional moments and it was damn hard. I knew what it was. I knew that overdue moment since we left 'home' had finally caught up with me. I fully comprehended that we had said goodbye, and life had moved us on. I lapped up every step away from my previous home as the rain fell on/off and the concrete took in all the glittery, yellow, autumn Melbourne evening lights. I bid abiento to each magnolia as I walked up the street. I also lapped up the arms that were around me and the huge hug that Theo and I stopped to have to mark our moment. Home Now
October 18th, 2017
5:10 pm
Diagnosis: A Can of Worms
WARNING: This post contains serious attitude as a result of 10 years of personal experience with chronic pain. The post also contains my personal no nonsense view of living with a chronic [...]
January 11th, 2017
10:25 am
Can looking at art make for better doctors?
Their teachers hope that students are beginning to realize that medicine is not black and white, but many shades of grey. The museum sessions are designed to get these students thinking about the importance of a diagnosis that is not just based on physical symptoms, but also on the larger narrative that informs a patient’s health story.
April 18th, 2016
3:21 pm
Drug dependency lessons from Pharma ads and my two mothers
I can’t stand TV as it hurts to sit or lie back and watch but recently, while tuning in to one of the very few shows I do watch, I caught a [...]
March 6th, 2014
3:32 pm
Theo, and his ‘carer’s’ perspective
The post many of you have been waiting for… Theo’s thoughts, sacrifices and life experience of his daily ‘caring’. I should add that Theo and I have [...]
July 30th, 2013
10:07 am
A Pained Life: Timing My Pain
Excerpt from American News Report: July 8th, 2013 by Carol Levy, Columnist I was sitting at a table with some people I knew, slightly. I did not know how much of my [...]
June 10th, 2013
10:35 am
Sharing Barry’s experience with Male Pudendal Neuralgia
I've lived here in Delaware since December 2011 and have not had a block since. I already had 6 Pudendal Nerve blocks and this after so many other procedures: 5 Ganglion Blocks, 6 Caudal Blocks, 2 Botox injections, 2 Radio Frequency Ablations, 2 Neurostimulator Trials, an Interstim Impant, and then the 6 Pudendal Nerve blocks. Endless research and finally putting the right two words together on Google, opened up the world of Pudendal Neuralgia (Neuropathy) to us. That was near the end of December 2010. On the day after New Years and in response to two letters I sent to two Dr's names I had found, I got calls from both Dr’s the same day.