Is there any one out there that thinks it’s weird that you have to go to a gym to be healthy? How is it that I have an almost 93-year-old father who never set foot inside a modern-day gym? Sure he played basketball in high school, and he probably played some in the college gymnasiums. But going “to the gym” to work out?! No way. And yet he is still here and has opted to take only one prescription medication. The thing I remember about my mother, who was active until her death at age 84, is that we were always asking her to sit down. My memories of our visits were that she was always running here and there doing the laundry, grabbing a book to share, pulling food out of the freezer for supper, or any number of other activities necessary for running a comfortable home.

When I recall my early years, I never had to worry about weight, feeling strong, or staying healthy. I attribute that in a large part to the activities I was involved in and the diet that I was...

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So began my five weeks and one day stay at St Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. During the early weeks that I was in the hospital I remember bits and pieces.  It was as though I would come in and out of times of awareness but as far as wanting to communicate with anyone that was a no-brainer.  I didn’t have the energy or the desire to let others in.  They tell me I stopped talking completely.  I was even diagnosed at one point as being catatonic because all I would do throughout the day was sit there and not speak to anyone.  I had no malicious intent by not speaking, in my mind I just needed a moment of quiet, of peace, some stillness to just take a breath.

During those first few weeks they were doing their doctorly thing and running every test they could think of trying to figure out what was going on.  I wasn’t really communicating with anyone at that time.  I underwent constant blood work....

_{Part One of Four}

 Come listen to a story ‘bout a woman named Becky

A middle-class professional barley maintaining her sanity

And then one day she was sooo de-energized

That she broke with reality and ended up hospitalized

Five weeks that is, stopped communicating, was in her own world.

Why I started this blog with a little throw back to my youth watching episodes of “The Beverly Hillbillies” I don’t know.  Or maybe I do.  Stay tuned.

You know people talk about those life altering events?  Well, this was mine.  The year was 2014, February 21^st.  We had just gotten dumped with snow.  Plows were out doing their thing.  I got up to get ready for my day ahead seeing only one client that day.  Usually, I don’t hold office hours on Friday.  But this particular day I had made an exception.  My husband had worked a night shift so when he got home that morning around 8am he found me wandering...