Ideas on Handling Medical Conditions

I have been stalled for a blog idea for some time. One topic that I have been asked about over the years is how to handle medical conditions in such an isolated lifestyle. As it stands, my family is quite aware of the difficulties that surround living with medical conditions that can, if something goes awry in the treatment, become life threatening.

My life has been one of awareness and calculated risks because I was diagnosed with sleep related epilepsy as an infant. In the last quarter of a century, my parents and I have lived a life filled with neurologists, tests, and medications to control my seizures. At 21 years of age, my neurologist began to phase me off of drugs with a slight alteration in my medication every six months and there was little to no negative change in my brain's abnormal activity. Six months ago I was declared epilepsy free and since October I have been on a rapid phaseout plan that, providing all goes well, shall find me off of all medication by January 20th. The last few weeks, however, have not been so easy and, given my situation, they have led me to contemplate every outcome that is possible and to implement even more calculated risks than is normal.

What is a calculated risk? In the bush, you learn very quickly that every action has a consequence. Whether that is slipping and injuring yourself when it's -30C, falling through a beaver dam, or getting lost you learn to measure your actions before you walk out the door.

A few actions my family takes to ensure my safety as I complete my life's greatest science experiment:

1) During the winter, we keep a small gas filled generator inside at night. This permits us to plug in and start a vehicle during extreme temperatures in the event that I need to be taken to the hospital.

2) As a team, we ensure that I have several months of medication on hand at all times to prevent any problems if my drugs get short listed by the pharmacy a good five hours away.

3) We keep track of my nightly activity and follow a disciplined routine to help ensure I do not end up sleep deprived, which is crucial to controlling abnormal brain activity.

4) I maintain an active lifestyle to combat the adverse affects of stress -- stress is never good for someone with a seizure history. 

5) If I have had a particularly spastic night, my parents maintain a quiet sound level and don't push me beyond whatever function I am capable of maintaining without making my day worse.

6) Most importantly: Whether I like it or not, I never sleep alone. 

These are a few of the ways we maintain my condition in the bush to aid me as much as possible as my brain adjusts to not being on medications for epilepsy. That said, there is absolutely no reason why others with controlled medical conditions need to live a life close to the hospital. The truth is, I have never felt better about my condition than I do in the bush and that alone has made my isolated life worthwhile. With a few adjustments to your routine as someone with a medical condition, and the development of an action plan between you and your family, you are likely just as able as I am to enjoy the isolated lifestyle while being considerate of your medical needs. 

Here's to a Merry Christmas and All the Best for the New Year.

Love,

Jenn

How We Entertain Ourselves Without Technology

WARNING! For the duration of this blog entry, I'm going to ask you to read without checking your cell, your e-mail, your facebook, your twitter, your linkedin, your updates, your uploads, your downloads, your accounts, or whatever your avatar self does all day. Do you think you can do it?


One question my family often gets is, "What do you do up there?" True, we don't have television, internet, or cell service; we don't have a game system, the latest blue-ray player, or other gadgets that so many of our friends can't seem to live without. I'm not bashing the technological world for I use it all the time. Without technology I would not be writing this post right now and it provides me with the service of communication with those people whom I choose to maintain contact with (like you). That said, my family has discovered the bliss of unplugging from the age of technology and it has resulted in a sense of freedom.


So, what do we do to entertain ourselves?


Activity: We read books.

Cool Family Moment: One of our family's great memories took place during our War and Peace marathon, which literally resulted in the demolition of the book. I handed sections of pages to Daddy and he then passed them along to Momma who made perfect little stacks of the close to 1000 pages after everyone read Tolstoy's words.


Activity: We talk.

Cool Family Moment: We solve the world's problems, our own problems, and our two nations' problems through dialectics before breakfast is over.


Activity: We go for walks alone or together.

Cool Family Moment: When alone, we are able to sort out our own lives and dreams so we don't kill each other from lack of space. When together, we learn more about one another and discover thoughts and sides of our family that we never knew existed.


Activity: We sit around and think.

Cool Family Moment: Through reflection and introspection, we have discovered the importance of the phrase, "Know Thy Self" and life is now so much more rewarding.


Activity: We work on our own personal hobbies (i.e. I knit and write, Daddy reloads and does leather craft, Momma bakes and crochets).

Cool Family Moment: The discovery that we are able to think and enjoy our lives without being told what to think and do.


Activity: We watch and commentate on movies together.

Cool Family Moment: That point in LOTR when Frodo is a prisoner, the orc says "that shiny SHIRT is mine" (except that "shirt" comes out like a four-letter word), and everyone still bursts into laughter after all these years.


Activity: We write letters.

Cool Family Moment: When we send off a letter and smile from the knowledge that there is a small ray of joy on the way to someone dear to us.


Activity: Hunting with Daddy.

Cool Family Moment: When we're making our way home at dusk and hear the eerie bellowing of a cow moose echo over the land and rip to shreds the sleeping silence of the forest.


Activity: When we go fishing.

Cool Family Moment: When I park my kayak next to a beaver dam, eat a few snacks, soak up the sun, and think of how my parents look like a Rockwell painting as they fish from our canoe.


Activity: When we take road trips (no backseat screens for us, thanks)!

Cool Family Moment: When everyone is singing along to old hits from the 70s because they're awesome and help us make crazy 2 day, 36 hour drives possible.


Activity: Waking up and watching the aurora borealis dance through the midnight sky.

Cool Family Moment: Waking up everyone else, going outside, and reeling with that glorious feeling that tells you that you are doing exactly what you ought to be doing for the moment. Okay, it's 3AM -- what's your point?


Activity: We live in a family zone.

Cool Family Moment: When we realize that we are together not by force or the use of agenda-shifting time blocks, but because we have come to enjoy our life together.


My short list does not begin to cover all that my family does together, but it's a small example of how we entertain ourselves and what we like to do. I've been bushed so long, I don't remember what we did before creating our uncivilized life. Oh well, it obviously didn't leave much of an impression. Life is far too vibrant now for me to ever want to go back to the former norm. By writing this blog entry, I've made myself curious: What do you do out there? And, how free are you?


Love,
Jenn

The Beauty of Life

The beauty that surrounds me is without compare, but every year at this time I discover that I am standing on the edge of something gorgeous and filled with allure. There is tension, there is sadness, and there is hope that all swills together into the giant blue cocktail glass we call the sky. What is there in the coming of fall that brings such intense feelings?

As the leaves fall in frozen showers of gold, I wonder at the world we are so privileged to live in, to love in, to flourish in. It doesn't take a miracle, it doesn't take a lifetime, and it doesn't take anything more than amazement at the sheer loveliness found in every waking moment to comprehend how precious are our lives.

A quick look at the garden reveals that my sunflowers gleam with ice. Until the morning thaws, they are preserved in perfect likeness of the sunny beauties that have greeted me all summer long. How fragile is life here and, yet, so resilient. A laugh wells up from inside me as the mental image of a giant dumping bottles of clear nail polish over the well shaped flowers blooms within my mind.  I cannot stop myself from contemplating the fantastic sight before me. I don't feel that it belongs to our world, but to the pages of a good fairy tale.

The chill air makes me shiver and I feel a warm smile spreading over my face. The fond memories of my life are lucid today and I possess a perfect clarity that is akin only to the thrill of walking barefoot through the first good snow of winter. Pure joy. Though the day is the same as yesterday, I know that today shall be different if only for the great dreams it promises to bring.

It's true, today's entry is not in keeping with my usual entries. Right now, form and narrative don't seem to matter or even have a place here. After all:

July 1st, 2014,

The world fascinates my every feeling sense, until all that remains is my soul.

Whoever you are, wherever you are, I hope that you are able to look at the small and the large, the simple and the complex, and realize that the greatest beauty of all has nothing to do with where you are; rather, it has to do with who you are. I know that in my own life that knowledge has made all the difference.

I love our world and I love all of you who have helped to make my life beautiful.

Love,
Jenn

What I Have Learned This Summer

Every year, well, every season, I find that I learn more about myself and more about my environment.

So what have I learned?

1) Pick your flowers while you can because killer frosts come far too soon in this forest.

2) When adolescent bears are 30 feet from your door, they are adorable. When they proceed to eat the wild cranberries, they are merely cute.

3) Mushroom pale students + intense northern sunlight = pain

4) We no longer have to pick the squirrels off with the .22 because PJ, our year old cat, picks them off for us.

5) This world may be the same, but each moment brings new and unique experiences.

6) There is nothing better than the taste of sunlight.

7) If you listen hard enough, you can hear the Earth's heartbeat.

8) The smallest gestures in life produce the greatest results.

9) Your brain may feel clogged with duckweed, but at least it has a purpose.

10) Each moment is precious. Never let the frosts of life touch what matters to you the most.



Love,
Jenny

August 2014 (Because I Love Experimental Forms)

A note on the post: Just because I think they are fun to write, I have decided to write a blog post that is a combination of the braided lyric and the flash essay forms. Enjoy! ~MUL

Sweat. Trickling it slides and tickles. A mosquito flies by. Itching hands seek out the insect that is biting into tender, fleshy parts. A slap.

Summer’s autumn days are here. I walk through the compact of tan foundation with its cool powder puff of clay, and contemplate the insect sounds that flit here and there and all around. The days are hot. Exposure bleached my hair out long ago. The forest, sick with streaks of gold, flaked out in the sun for too long. It peels without interest. Those trees whose roots are shallow have leaves of half-green -- squiggled scorch marks -- and of half-yellow.

            

The hand feels wet and the mouth emits a groan. Great. Another blood bomb. But, look. The hand is covered in a translucent, clear substance. Sweat.

Well, that was a fun way to spend twenty minutes.

Have a magnificent week!

Love,

Jenny

              

A Beautiful Summer

A few weeks ago, a dear friend of mine asked me to keep him posted on how my summer goes. I told him that, in short, it glows. After that conversation, I began to think of just why this summer seems so perfect. You see, I expected it to be one of the worst in recent history because I intentionally took a very difficult semester in order to justify the slack fall line-up I have on board for travel reasons.

Why does this summer glow?

1) The world is a beautiful place.

2) I know I love others and that I am loved in return.

3) The creatures that surround me are made more brilliant by their simple needs and complex designs.

4) The forest acts more alive than I remember from past summers.

5) There is an abundance of sunshine to soak up and a blue, blue sky to wade through each and every day.

6) There are more songbirds this year and, for that very reason, more songs in my heart.

7) The breezes are gentle caresses that shield me from the bugs that bite and drive me crazy.

8) The berries glisten with raw seduction in both shade and sunlight; giant gems waiting to be picked.

9) The rocks sparkle more and make me wonder at the vastness of our world.

10) I feel myself glowing in the awakening that has followed a long sleep filled with beautiful dreams.

It took me quite awhile to come up with the above ten points, but I know my list really has no end. Each day, I continue to add new thoughts and beautiful observations that show me just how magnificent is the forest in which I live, how all of life itself is glorious. In my beautiful summer I want only to lean back, observe, and enjoy each and every moment with the peace that by my waking thoughts revives my soul.

In this moment, may each of you know that you are loved. I hope your summers glow.

Love,

Jenny

A Typical Day

I realize I haven't added to my blog of late and, for it, I apologize. The truth is, I have been contemplating a blog suggestion from an old family friend.

What is a typical day like in my life?

Good question.

The only answer that felt right is that there is no such thing as a typical day. But, that doesn't really answer the question, now does it?

7:00am - My parents have been up for an hour or more, and one of them shouts up to where I am curled up in my snug little world wishing I could ignore the sounds of their alarm clock voices. Daddy goes for a walk

7:30am - I switch to autopilot, and slip on clothing that reflects a mad scientist's ideas of good taste and ask someone to please put up the ladder. Daddy usually has my coffee poured and waiting amidst the continental mess I call a desk. When I sit down, it's a gross understatement to say I'm awake. Rather, I'm lost in my mind and trying to capture that beautiful dream I had to leave behind in my bed. I listen to my parents talk and maybe throw a random thought out there, but for the most part I'm a coffee drinking veggie.

8:00am - Still a vegetable for whom the world doesn't really exist.

8:30am - I start to contribute to the family by joining the philosophical, political, or sociological debate going on around me.

9:00am - I'm finally to the point that I can function, and I usually make more coffee. By now I'm thinking about school. My thoughts usually go something like:
          1. Spanish. Need to work on Lección whateveritis. Oh, and the next assignment.
          2. Faust. Hmm... I should probably sit down and figure out what I want to write my research paper on.
          3. Creative Non-fiction. Editing, again? Oh, well, I guess those cute little punctuations can be fun.
During this process, I'm usually toasting two slices of homemade bread, toasting them on Momma's cast iron skillet, and reminiscing with Momma.

9:30am to 11:00am - I study and Momma gets exasperated with me because all I want to do is talk. That's studying for you.

11:15am - I go plaster myself to the flatbed and soak up some sun in a pair of Daisy Duke lookalikes and work on my tan.

11:30am - Lunch break.

Noon - Back to work after I eat, usually bread again, and maybe have a short talk with Daddy who comes in to get out of the sun for a break. Throughout the morning, Momma usually reads or works with Daddy (depending on what he's doing that day).

12:00 to 2:00pm - Another tanning session where I hum old rock tunes, day dream, and think of those I care for most.

2:30pm to 4:00pm - Back to the books.

4:30pm or 5:00pm - I organize my studies for the next day. Really, there actually is an organizing thought behind The Monstrosity. Then, I take off for a 3 mile walk down to Homestead Road.

6:00pm - I'm back, buggy, and getting ready for dinner.

6:30pm - Dinner and a movie on my laptop.

9:00pm - Bedtime.

That is as typical an agenda as I can form. We take one day a week and go to High Level or, maybe, Peace River if we need major items. On those days, I swim laps at noon to 1pm and then go to the library to get online for research purposes and talk to my friends. There is nothing else typical about my life other than eating, sleeping, and breathing.

Love,
Jenny