Tag: post-exertional malaise

body, Brain, disability, health, Learning, long covid

Enough Already: Notes on Sensory Overwhelm (part 2)

smirkpretty
Image source: The Inspiration Room

Why is it not enough to just be a gas station? Why does it also insist on being an entertainment platform, an advertising space, and a point of sale? All I’m asking from the Shell station is a fill-up on my little Prius. But as I stand there, pump in hand, the doors to the convenience store scream with images of Lottery jackpot numbers, cryptocurrency, Marlboros, and every flavor of beverage. Then, as soon as I’ve activated the pump, an upbeat voice starts speaking to me. About what now? The latest fashions on the red carpet? Yes, right at eye level, an entertainment “news”cast video selling more more more. More products, shows, celebrities, a car wash, and an upgrade to premium gas. 

Enough already!

Continue reading “Enough Already: Notes on Sensory Overwhelm (part 2)” →
body, disability, long covid

Slow and Steady: Notes on PEM

smirkpretty
Shannon standing on the lookout of a mountain with a view of the sky and coast of Kaua'i. She has a goofy smile and has her hands turned up
A thousand lives ago on Nounou Mountain Trail, or Sleeping Giant (Kaua’i, Hawai’i, 2022)

Going through photos of the last trip before my life changed, I see her. That me is there, radiating all the pain and exhilaration of the little mountain she climbed with her partner on their first day in Kaua’i. 

I love that girl. She was hurting bad from a bum hip that would get replaced in a year, but she powered through it, sun-happy and heart-strong.

She started vanishing just a few short months later, replaced by a body-snatching invasion of Long COVID symptoms. 

The worst of those symptoms? Post-Exertional Malaise. 

Continue reading “Slow and Steady: Notes on PEM” →