Appreciation 3.24

Hiya Darling Ones, It’s that time of the month where I quit bellyaching about my so-stroke-life and talk about the things I’ve been digging lately. Donors For real, everyone who threw some bucks at the GoFundMe are helping keep the lights on in this joint. I’m so thankful I don’t have the verbal capacity to put it into words. Things continue to be rough-going, and this helps immensely. Thank you! The 25th Annual Conference of Women Mentioned in Rock Lyrics…

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The Breakfast Catastrophe Broke Me

Hi Darling Ones, I lost my shit this morning and now I have guilt. And I’m super weepy on top of that. Today’s not so great. My mornings have been starting later and later since the relapse. The time change doesn’t help. Neither does staying up past 1 a.m. most nights. I’m lucky if I’m downstairs making breakfast by noon. Today was no exception. Getting such a late start to my day makes me a little anxious. It makes me…

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Stroke Me Day 366: Strokeaversary

Dear Darling Ones, It’s been 366 days (thanks Leap Year) since my Cardio-Vascular Accident. That’s the medical jargon for having a stroke. 366 days since I woke up feeling wrong and terrified. 366 days since I called 911. 366 days since seven male first responders did not believe me. 366 days since I had to have a friend bring me to the hospital. 366 days since everything has changed. On this, my first Strokeaversary, I could talk about the avalanche…

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Apologies From the Center of the Universe

Hello Darling Ones, I’m dictating this letter into my cellular device because it’s eye day and my garbage vision is extra garbagey. WARNING. There are going to be 77 layers of irony to this letter, but I’m gonna go ahead and say it anyway cause I it’s on my mind. This blog is nothing if not crap that’s on my mind. As I approach my strokeaversary on Wednesday I’m thinking about is how self-centered I’ve been this year. This is…

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Leap Day Confessions

Hello Darling Ones, I write to you today for two reasons. First, because I now refer to the recrudescence as “The Stroke Strikes Back.” This is hilarious to me because I have not ever in all my years seen a Star Wars movie. Not any of them, and by last count there were eleventy hundred of them. I have no interest or desire to see them. I didn’t when I was a kid and I don’t now. I get the…

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They Have a Word for It

So, Darling Ones, I found out they have a word for what landed me in the ER on Friday, “recrudescence.” Officially the ER doc wrote in my after care summary, “He [the neurologist] suspects likely recrudescence from prior thalamic infarct.” Both my primary care doc and physical therapist mentioned recrudescence, because like me they’d never heard the word before. According to my highly scientific and not all full of AI-trash and SEO-garbage Googling, post-stroke recrudescence is the “re-emergence of post-stroke…

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Stroke Me Day 348: Oh No, Not Again

Hello Darling Ones, I feel so foolish. Last night I spent roughly six hours in the ER only for them to determine I was NOT having another stroke. While this is a load off my mind, it feels like I wasted everyone’s time and money because I’m melodramatic. UGH! Around dinnertime, I called Sister #4 to take me to the hospital. I skipped 911 this time because I didn’t need to have my house full of men who didn’t believe…

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Appreciation 2.24

Hey Darling Ones, Earlier this week while I was deep in grief I read some of the archives to see what I had written last year around this time. I wrote about the movie “Reality Bites” and my nihilistic streak and why I was mad at Dave Grohl Writing about pop culture is one of the Before Jodi things I missed the most. It is also the thing I have the most control over. So, this year I’m gonna try…

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Stroke Me Day 337: All of the Grief

Hoo Boy, Darling Ones, I got some grief kicking my ass. I knew it was gonna come, and here it is. Earlier today 3/4 of the Tea Ladies gathered on Zoom for our monthly catch up. I’d love to tell you some of the life-stuff we discussed. It was a conversation filled with brave and beautiful stories from my friends that are not mine to tell. One of the Tea Ladies asked how I was doing as the year anniversary…

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Eye Day

Hello Darling Ones, Two letters in two days? Count your lucky stars! I wanted to write today because it’s Eye Day and I want to bellyache about it. There are a lot of really great things about Eye Day. Namely, not losing my entire site to macular edema and diabetic retinopathy. That’s not even exaggeration for humor’s sake. That’s the actual, factual truth. Without this treatment I will go blind. Another good thing about Eye Day? The security guy who…

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