Mental Illness

Dear Family,

I have a huge disinclination to draw conclusions about anything health-related. I don't want to be known as That Person who recommends a healing modality after testing it for A Very Short Time, Announces Tremendous Results, and then...experiences a "Relapse" and never discusses said Modality again.

But when is anything in health "conclusive?" Since that's up for debate, and because I have been trying a lot of different things this year, I am going to trepidatiously announce that my mental and physical health status feels a lot more stable and Good Overall.

Dear Family,

"Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realize fishing is stupid and boring."

--Desmond Tutu

"Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving."

-- Terry Pratchett, "A Hat Full of Sky"

It's hard to discuss my own mental health with both humor and compassion.

Robbie was sick and compromised from birth. He lacked oxygen during many hours of labor, and was born barely alive. Afterward, he was limp and listless and would only sleep. For a couple days he was like that, no nursing at all for many hours. There was every indication that he had irreparable brain damage.

He always had issues that were obvious to me, a mother of 5, because my older children didn't have any of them. He was not vaccinated, never had antibiotics, and was breastfed until age 5 or 6...and still he was never, ever well.