Crunch Time for Rose

It is that time in the semester when students are pushing toward the finish line.

Papers are due, assignments need finishing, exams must be prepared for…

What got me through that was something no student has right now… study buddies.

A sense of comradery helps one attempt what seems impossible alone.

Esprit de Corps

All the online students everywhere are depending on their own grit right now.

Exams are next week with no study buddy or midnight oil companions.

I am thankful that Rose is an experienced student.

She has done the impossible online before. (British Literature)

Rose will get through it.

It’s those millions of other students that worry me.

Will this be the end for them? Will they give up? Will this semester be a waste?

Partial refunds were given. Choices to make grades P/F or U/S were offered.

Not only will businesses need a jumpstart, I think colleges will also.

If you know any students during this lonely semester,

offer a little support and encouragement. Maybe some chocolate and Red Bull.

Crunch time is never easy, but doing it alone may do them in.

Let’s not let this be the last straw for some lonely student.

They may be a future nurse, doctor, postal worker, chef or scientist.

They will be needed in this new future we are facing.

 

Love (without hugs and kisses)

Flower

Still Here, New Worries

Rose and I are adjusting to the old normal, which is now the new normal.

I have the day shift in the house. Rose has the night shift.

I garden, sew masks, cook meals, clean more, do laundry, read nonfiction and worry.

(floweralley.org is my garden blog)

Most of my concerns are not new.

My parents need lots of help, my sister does most of this and is weary.

Rose is fine, now that we have her medicines covered. No seizures in over a year.

My husband is still working too hard.  He had a Covid-19 scare. It was a wake-up call.

I am sure it will not be the last for him. Let’s hope they are all false alarms.

So here is the ugly truth.

I am a dependent. I do not have my own income or insurance.

I never planned this. I trained for a career. I started a career. I had a career.

Rose was more important.  She is still more important.  Always will be.

The Covid-19 scare left me feeling vulnerable.

What if???   No income, no insurance…no medicine.

Rose’s medications cost over $100,000 per year. Our insurance covers that cost.

What will happen to us if something happens to him?

The cost of epilepsy is high.

That’s the ugly truth.

How do we change that?

Keep talking.  Keep sharing your struggles.  Keep telling your stories.

Maybe the right people will hear us.

 

Seizure Mama/Rose’s Mama/Flower Roberts

Do NOT worry about us. We will be fine. We have been, we will be, we are FINE.

 

 

 

 

Hell: Round 3

Do not worry about us. We will be fine.

I will try not to worry about you.

I know I will survive.

This is not my first battle, you see.

I have enough fire in me to light up half the planet.

That’s why my sister calls me Snapdragon.

I would like to blame it on the PTSD, but it happened long before that.

Some day I will tell you that story.

Stay safe.

If you want to see why I am the Flower,

visit my other blog  floweralley.org.

Goodbye for now.

Flower

Isolation Irony

Rose is home from college due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

So instead of being isolated by her epilepsy, she is now isolated by an outside disease.

My dad is under “lockdown” ( due to COVID-19 ) in the rehab center following a cancer surgery in December.

So he is now in there alone without us to care for his many needs.

All this isolation to prevent the spread of an invisible foe.

I hope and pray we miss this new and vicious virus.

On the other hand I feel in my element.

I have been studying diseases for decades.

Oh, if only I could jump into the fray instead of sitting here alone

educated and isolated.

Everybody’s Mama

 

 

Seizure Mama and Rose made it to the Best New Epilepsy Books
I’m happy to announce that my book, “Seizure Mama and Rose: An Epilepsy Memoir”, made it to BookAuthority’s Best New Epilepsy Books:
https://bookauthority.org/books/new-epilepsy-books?t=d39069&s=award&book=167081114X
BookAuthority collects and ranks the best books in the world, and it is a great honor to get this kind of recognition. Thank you for all your support!
The book is available for purchase on Amazon.