Yay! And she seems much more calm. Well, gotta go spend time with my honey!
Tag-Archive for » schizophrenia «
Category: Life, Robin
Tags: Conversion Disorder, hospital, Jerrod Balzer, Robin Balzer, schizophrenia 3 Comments
22
Jul
2011
2011
Sorry to keep this short and sweet, but to be honest, these seizures are killing me. Robin is doing better. She was hoping to come home tonight but she was pretty sick last night, so her doctor thought it best to stay through the weekend. Unless anything serious comes up, she should be coming home on Monday.
They needed to lower her Lithium, which helped, so that’s a good thing! Anytime they can lower something to stabilize her is great, because she’s at the safe maximum dosages of everything. The doctor really doesn’t want to dope her up any more than necessary to keep her comfortable.
They also found that her blood was low in potassium, so they’re giving her something to help that. Low potassium can certainly cause confusion, etc.
I worry that nerves could be contributing, like from the stress of taking care of me. I certainly deal with a lot of stress watching over her, as well, just as anyone who cares for a loved one with some sort of special needs. It comes with the territory. I just hope it doesn’t end up being too much for her.
To help with that, my mother has made arrangements so she’ll be able to come over much more often through the week, even if it’s to help with the housecleaning and whatnot. It will be wonderful having her around more.
Category: Life, Robin
Tags: Conversion Disorder, hospital, Jerrod Balzer, Robin Balzer, schizophrenia One Comment
18
Jul
2011
2011
I apologize for the back-and-forth, but we were able to reach Robin’s doctor today and he secured her a room. No visit to the ER first and all that red tape. All she has to do is show up and they’ll get her settled in.
She went with us to Columbia to see my neurologist and had a really rough time with her hallucinations. And I had a ton of seizures so right now, I feel like someone tossed me in a UFC ring while drunk. My doctor sent for some more tests. He’s glad to see that my cataplectic spells don’t last as long, but he’s struggling to fight the spasms. He’s trying, though.
I’m home now and Mom is getting Robin ready to go.
Again, thanks for all the well wishes. They’re very much appreciated.
Category: Life, Robin
Tags: Conversion Disorder, hospital, Jerrod Balzer, Robin Balzer, schizophrenia One Comment
18
Jul
2011
2011
UPDATE: She’s home! See full update at the bottom:
I’ve been extremely proud of Robin. She used to need a stay at the hospital at least a few times a year (usually during big changes in season), but she’s managed to do okay for about a year and a half. Well, she’s been having a terrible time of it lately, and the voices are getting too noisy for her. She was asking to go to the hospital and I don’t want her to suffer just to keep her home. It takes so long to get registered and settled in, that it’s probably best to go in on Sunday evening. Then she’s there and all set for her doctor to see her in the morning.
It’s probably just a matter of adjusting her meds. It’s a necessary evil that keeps her stable. This is the first time since all my problems came on that I’ve had to be without her, though.
I’m always an emotional wreck when she’s away. I know she’s being taken care of, but you don’t spend 24/7 with the person you love and not get worried sick when they’re gone. I’m predicting that the stress of it will mean tons of extra spells/seizures for me, and I’ll be home alone. It can’t be avoided, though. I’ll simply do as little as possible while she’s away, which will probably last about a week, maybe a week and a half. I have video games, music, movies, the laptop and all my friends here… I can stay busy.
My mother came by to take Robin, and I wasn’t in good shape to go along. Then Mom is coming by early in the morning to take me to my neurologist appointment. That’s a good 3 hours away so it will be an all-day thing. We’re definitely keeping my mother busy. She is so full of awesome! She has to take care of an elderly gentleman who lives a half hour away, so there’s that when she’s not running around for us. She is just amazing.
Anyway, just calling for some cheerleaders to keep Robin in their thoughts while she gets through this. And if my online behavior is weird, you’ll know why. Thanks!
UPDATE: I was having a rough time getting to sleep, so I was still awake in bed when Robin and Mom arrived home. They said the hospital was full – no rooms at all. Apparently, the clinic in Hannibal, MO closed down and Quincy caught the overflow.
Once she was home, I slept like a baby, and we’ll just get with her doctor as soon as we can this week. For now, I have to get ready to go to Columbia for my doc. Thanks, everyone for their good wishes!
Category: Life, Robin
Tags: Conversion Disorder, hospital, Jerrod Balzer, Robin Balzer, schizophrenia 7 Comments
15
Jun
2011
2011
One of the best things I love about Rich Ristow‘s writing is how he can develop such deep, real characters in a short piece of writing. The people he creates linger with you long after you’ve finished reading, and it’s why I can’t recommend his work enough.
In his novelette, Blight, we follow Floyd as his world quickly disintegrates before his eyes. He’s a schizophrenic who, like many, is forced to choose food over medication. A ruthless financial institution is driving him out of his home, and the anguish over this is heavily symbolized in his hallucinations that grow worse each day without meds.
Rich takes the reader flawlessly from reality to Floyd’s suffering mind and back again, until the lines are eventually so blurred that’s it’s difficult to tell anymore. The result is strong sympathy for Floyd as things spiral out of control, with a satisfying ending that I won’t give away.
Is the ebook flawed? Sure. There are a good share of typos. In his defense, I’d read a rough copy, but I did see in the online store samples that it could still use some editing. However, don’t let this deter you. While such errors will normally knock me right out of a story, they add to the charm of this one. It’s difficult to explain but they helped me get into the story’s distorted world that much more. So perhaps there was something intentional going on here because the talent flows strong throughout despite any issues that I could point out.
This is one of Rich’s stories set in Monmouthside Heights, a fictional town on the East Coast, and I look forward to seeing more from this world.
You can pick up Blight at Amazon Kindle HERE or at Smashwords HERE.
And for some added fun, check out the Blight soundtrack HERE.
Category: Book Reviews
Tags: bizarre, Blight, ebook, fiction, horror, psycho, Rich Ristow, schizophrenia, weird 6 Comments
27
Oct
2010
2010
This morning, Robin accidentally took her night time meds instead of her 8am meds. These were the ones that knock her out, but still very important for other things.
Since she needed her 8am meds and they were totally different, she went ahead and took those, but this means she took her night pills over 12 hours early, and since it would be dangerous for her to double up on them within 24 hours, she can’t take more until tomorrow night.
This means that she slept most of the day, off and on, and now the episodes are starting. They’ll most likely continue until about this time tomorrow night when it should be safe to give her the night pills (Seroquel and Trazadone).
Gonna be fun. She’s already putting on her shoes and saying she’ll be out in the car, ready to go. Go where? She doesn’t know. But I’ll be keeping close watch over her – closer than usual.
02
Aug
2010
2010
If this post seems familiar, it’s because I wrote it a while back on my old blog. I’ll be slowly bringing posts over there, though, and when I’m done, I’ll nuke the old one from orbit (it’s the only way to be sure.)
Regarding THIS article.
I won’t argue whether or not both creative people and schizophrenic have less receptors that inhibit limited perspectives, but I couldn’t disagree more with the way the article is trying to twist it into creative people being so similar as to “mimic” the disorder.
Sure, it’s natural for society to label anyone who’s different as crazy, but there is such a huge difference between a very imaginative person and a schizophrenic. For one, there’s control. A creative person can stop thinking up cool ideas long enough to go shopping, mow the lawn, etc. No matter how “crazy” a creative person’s friends might call him or her, they can still function quite well. A person with a mental disability cannot. Some can with the help of medications, but without it, they still lack the control. That’s all medication does, after all. Since it can’t cure the illness, it works to control it so the sufferer can -hopefully- be more comfortable than without it.
Here’s a quote:
Some of the world’s leading artists, writers and theorists have also had mental illnesses – the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh and American mathematician John Nash (portrayed by Russell Crowe in the film A Beautiful Mind) to name just two.
Yeah, and I bet for every artist they come up with who had a mental illness, there are a thousand schizophrenics who could barely finger paint or tie their shoes. That’s like naming a few plumbers who are Baptists, so there MUST be a connection so close that one “mimics” the other.
An author or artist might imagine a horde of zombies outside and get inspired, but there is no real danger.
Schizophrenics might really believe a horde of zombies is outside and become so terrified, they could pose a serious threat to themselves or those around them.
And obviously, during a mentally ill person’s bad moments, they aren’t capable of doing anything. An artist who is having a really rough day of it can’t get their thoughts together enough to paint. Hell, Robin can’t even watch TV on a bad day without yelling about something trying to get her or bugs crawling on her. So how would she be able to do something productive? Likewise, the average creative mind wouldn’t get anything done if it was ‘mimicking’ the illness.
Then the article’s direction is completely contradicted by the end:
He works as an executive coach helping people to be more creative in their problem solving behaviour and thinking styles.
“The result is typically a significant rise in their well being, so as opposed to creativity being associated with mental illness it becomes associated with good mental health.”
So there might NOT be a mimic going on here? Which is it resembling, good or bad mental health?
While I don’t get offended when people joke about being crazy, when they come out and try saying they could be schizophrenic for the simple reason of having a healthy imagination, I say try living with the hell that a TRUE schizophrenic goes through. I’m sure they’d learn fast how ridiculous the notion is.
I opened it up for discussion over at the Merchant’s Keep forum. Feel free to join in HERE.
Category: News
Tags: artists, authors, creativity, imagination, mental illness, schizophrenia One Comment
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