Blog #1

After the mental torture of three runs at maybe-maybe not diagnosis – simply the nature of the beast so I learned – and the hysteria of number four, early onset of a variant of Alzheimer’s disease, I did the most sensible thing I could think of: chocolate. Lots of it. Then the first of the silver linings to come was dropped by my super-duper doctors. The first prescription was the highest level of chocolate barring baking cocoa, one piece a day forever or at least for the foreseeable future. Really! Why? B12 is my new best food vitamin friend and the brain craves it. Too low and bad things can happen. Good chocolate is packed with it. You’ll be seeing lots more of it as we progress.

As to the aftermath of this utterly terrifyingly unexpected diagnosis it’s taken months for me to reach this space, as a patient, to reach out to others like me and your families, friends, you know how it works. To talk to the outside, to know I can and now I will not stop. I’d like to see humor and learning frequently wave at us in our conversations.

Finally, I’ve promised myself that each blog will close with either strength, happiness or both. Here’s number one. Every morning I look in the mirror and what I see is a strong woman, not an ill one. Yes I ‘ve drawn a short straw for sure but – and this is a big but - IT DOES NOT OWN ME, I OWN IT.