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Living on “Candy” (Painkillers and Purgatory) I was home, but the nightmare had simply changed its scenery. For a year and a half, I existed in a fog. I was popping painkillers like candy just to be able to sit at the table with my family. This is the part people don’t see—the invisible…
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The Welcome Gift I returned to my father’s house, technically still a “fugitive” from the hospital’s COVID ward. My first act of rebellion was taking a home test—it was negative, just as I suspected. My father and aunt were there to help me, and my two dogs were waiting. But if you expect a…
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The 38-Day Void: Between Dreams and Concrete Before the pain fully arrived, there was a dream. It was more real than reality itself: I was in my bedroom with my son and my two dogs. My stepmother called, and we agreed to go for coffee. It was peaceful. Waking up from that dream was…
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The Illusion of Safety It was supposed to be a vacation. My son had just turned six months old – that beautiful time of childhood, when the parenting starts to feel a bit more manageable. We were at a dam: me, my son, my husband, my father with his second wife and close friend.…