I’m sitting on my porch in the late afternoon sun. My chair rocks back and forth as Bertie tickles my toes with his whiskers and soft fur. The colours around me have been unveiled from days of misty rain; vibrant pinks, firey oranges, soft purples. Bees are hard at work, buzzing industriously from flower to flower. Swifts are soaring in amongst puffs of clouds, shrieking as if letting out a cry of exhilaration. Sounds of laughter and play reach me from the nearby park.Read More
The cortical homunculus is a physical representation of our body in our brain. There are two types of these neurological ‘maps’; one for sensory pathways, the other for motor. The area a body part takes up on the map depends on how innervated it is, not how large. If our bodies actually looked like our brain’s representation, we would look very strange indeed. What these maps look like also varies from person to person as they are dependent on the information the brain receives. My hands probably have a larger representation than average due to my music and crafts, whilst my legs are likely to have a smaller representation than average as a result of the movement symptoms of my FND.Read More
I’m waiting for two hospital admissions. I don’t know when they’ll be or how how much notice I’ll be given before I have to pack my bag, say goodbye to my kitties and face yet more inpatient treatment and sleepless nights on a plastic hospital mattress. I have imminent meetings and assessments to review the care I receive, which, given government bureaucracy, can create huge amounts of stress. Not to mention the day to day challenge of managing my condition, living with difficult symptoms and finding ways to enable me to complete basic tasks most people take for granted. It could easily consume me. My life could centre round illness and disability, and all the suffering that accompanies it. That would be perfectly understandable. It might even be expected. It has happened in the past. But I know if I broaden my awareness, there is always something pleasant to experience.Read More