For as many years as I have been writing, I never once thought I would write about my own Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Hell, I wouldn’t even discuss PTSD with the several counselors or shrinks I had seen over the years since my return from Vietnam. I didn’t even talk about PTSD in AA meetings.
I was diagnosed with COPD (emphysema) in 2005. A couple years later, after I had lost my business, my home and much of my ability to do normal physical activities, I asked 2 different doctors to tell me how much time I had left. Both said (reluctantly) approximately the same thing: 2 or 3 years.
Back in the early 80s, I found an interest in photography. I bought the latest Canon film camera, an A-1, lenses, filters and an assortment of other gear. The hobby began, as many of my hobbies do, with research and plenty of reading and, in this case, looking at the pictures of many photography artists of that time. My enthusiasm also took me to school – I enrolled in a B&W photography course at a college in San Mateo, near where I was living at the time.
Beautify the Space Between Your Teeth This Is The Best Toothpick Ever This is the best toothpick ever! It’s a Poly Pik, which is a very difficult to find brand, unless you want to order 500 at a time. I can’t remember where or when I found my first Poly Pik (this product is branded
How much did that thing cost you? It seems like a fairly innocuous question. I get asked that question every time I am out gliding about on my Segway. I know it’s an unusual device, especially where I live – I think I’m the only one in Plumas County, CA that has one, or uses
Dealing With Depression Associated With Disability by John Meyers In my years of working with adults with developmental disabilities, I also dealt with many people with physical disabilities and with mental illness. Sometimes, they had all three! One thing I learned for sure is that you don’t have to have a developmental disability to have
Three years ago, one of my doctors at the Veterans Hospital in Reno, NV told me I had 2, maybe 3 years left. I am very happy to be here to show you that doctors ain’t always right. Yes, I still do have COPD (Emphysema). Some doctors call it late stage, some end stage, others
My old body could eat junk food on a regular basis because my work installing floor coverings ate up a big portion of the calories I took in. I could stay up past my bedtime too. My after-hours activities ate even more calories – dancing (I loved dancing), bicycling, making love and even shopping. And
Just the way I had spent most of my days the last 3 years, in early May, 2009, I was holed up in my cave of an apartment waiting to die. I was told I had end-stage Emphysema and not a lot of time left. I didn’t know anyone by the name David Bromstad then.
More than a year ago – yeah really, that long ago – I wrote What My Other Foot Wants. This was/is my own personal “bucket list” or as I called it, my “other foot list.” Well, things have changed in the last year. My health hasn’t gotten better, but I have a different attitude and
