I've been thinking...

2009-12-26T11:39:00.000-08:00

that I shouldn't let my new blog go such a long time (over a week) without a new post. This will have to do for now, though. Sorry to disappoint the many readers who have subscribed to receive notice of a new posting (written with sarcasm). I've also been thinking I should resolve for the new year to write at least two or three times a week.

Happy holidays to all!

[Note to self: You used "new" four times in the same paragraph! tsk!]

"Uh! I've lost my train of thought!"

2009-12-18T13:33:00.000-08:00

I found myself saying this more than a couple of times when I visited with volunteer friends at Independent Cat Society's Black Cat Boogie in October.

I'd given up my volunteer positions as adoption counselor at the shelter and as recording secretary on the board of directors last February, a few weeks after being diagnosed with Chiari malformation (CM) as shown on an MRI of my brain. I had only just begun gathering information about CM and had more questions than I had found answers to, but I'd learned enough to know that my symptoms of extreme fatigue, pain in my limbs after physical exertion, feeling light-headed, loss of balance, and memory loss, to name a few, could very well be caused by this thing called Chiari malformation.

These and other symptoms had been adversely affecting my job performance, I had come to realize, so this black-and-white diagnosis prompted me to give up the volunteer positions because they were a commitment of time and energy that my well-being could no longer afford.

Talking with ICS volunteers at the October event certainly was not the first time I have lost my train of thought! Oh, no! Not at all. And, really, who hasn't had this experience? But that evening, I found myself repeatedly declaring as I spoke with a number of people, "Uh! I've lost my train of thought!" As frustrating as it was, I actually envisioned--in one of those very moments, no less--entitling my anticipated Chiari blog "Losing My Train of Thought," which, of course, evolved into Lost: My Train of Thought. So there it is: the origin of my blog's title.

I hope you will bookmark my blog and continue to Join me on my journey as I chronicle life with Chiari. Thank you.

Looking for my train of thought

2009-12-16T19:53:00.000-08:00

Please be patient while I look for my train of thought. When I find it, I'll write about my Chiari journey. Check back now and then to read how it has progressed and continues progressing.