Canasta and lunch with Jodi, Grandma, Papa, art call, art attempt

October 5, 2023:

Today, first things first I actually woke up at 5am and realized I’d been listening to Four Winds on audio book the entire night while I slept. I went back like 10 or 15 chapters, and played it again. I still don’t know where I am exactly. Then, I went back to sleep, and took my medication at 7:03am with some vanilla and banana yogurts. I was feeling fine when I took them, but like an hour or two later I started feeling nauseous, so took a Zofran. Then, I sat outside with Papa and played our games that we usually send each other. I also emailed the director from Theatre in the Round, and told her that I’ve been a bit sick so I’m not sure I can make the play next Wednesday. The other plus of that is that I can go to the Creative Process class that I loved yesterday. Now, I’m just sitting here getting all my notes together. and snacking on some sweet potato and carrot juice. Backing up my computer too.

Then, I had my therapy session, and it was incredibly productive. I only focused on one of my photos of the day, which was yesterday’s, and then after reading the end of that one, I remembered that I’d wanted to talk about the realizations I had in the MRI on September 29. Can’t believe I forgot that for even a minute, since before yesterday I’d been thinking those would be the very first words out of my mouth. So then, I said that 1) I’ve been “drowning my enlightenment” in work, 2) I was equating being “normal” to being happy because I got happier when I got more normal by going to Fogo and partying, and 3) meaningful relationships are the meaning of life, including friendships. While talking about those, I finally finally remembered the ones that I had in yesterday’s MRI as well. It was 1) that being so medically complicated is a big part of the reason I don’t feel understandable or relatable, and 2) that I’m not even sure if I ever want to work again, given that work so intensely brings me back to burying my problems. I’ve also realized that the way I changed “problems” to “enlightenment,” was because problems do lead to enlightenment, inevitably. So I was burying my problems in work, and because of that, I was burying my enlightenment.

While my computer was backing up, Papa and I decided to go over to Jodi’s house to play games and have sushi. On the way there, I told Papa my two realizations from the MRI and therapy, and he responded to the one about being unique medically making it hard to be understood. He said that being unique medically can also set me up for being unique personally and artistically. When we got to Jodi’s house, we were a bit surprised that my grandma was there too. The four of us shared the sushi, which was a spicy California roll, and also a Mediterranean salad. I read them some of my notes from the creative process class that I really enjoyed, making me glad that I’d written things down.

After that, we decided to play a four-person game of Canasta. We had to explain some things to grandma, but it was really nice. We got the dog Rosie in the photo too, just since she was on the couch. I was partnered with Jodi, and grandma and Papa were together. Funny enough, they ended up winning in the end, though Jodi had to go to work before we could actually finish the game. Leaving Jodi’s house, I actually thought to pull out my camera and try to get an “artistic” photo for my DSLR photo of the day project. When I stabbed my finger at the feelings wheel, it landed on “disgusted.” For that, Jodi showed me something that’s a bit disgusting, but not exactly “disgusted.” I got a DSLR photo of it anyways. Still keeping my eyes open for more things I could shoot. Later, waiting for my art class to start, I went out to take a few more DSLR photos, and actually ended up asking a lady for a picture of her dog, when she was walking it by the house. The picture I got was too dark since I forgot to adjust the shutter speed, but the experience kind of made me think that a fun activity could be walking around a lake with my camera and taking portraits of all the dogs.

After leaving Jodi's, Papa and I decided to run to Walgreens to check on my anti-nausea pill prescription. At Walgreens, they actually said that our insurance wasn’t covering the whole prescription, so we only got part of it, which was 18 pills. They had told us to go home and come back 15 minutes later, and driving away, I remembered that I would like to grab a small bottle of pain medicine for headaches to have in my purse. Haven’t had headaches today, but it’s good to have the pills. Anyways, I did that, paying with my debit card since I haven’t been sent my credit replacement yet, and then I heard “Magnuson your prescription is ready” over the speaker, so I also picked up the anti-nausea pills too.

Grateful: Honestly, toady I’m very grateful for Whitney, to have the same therapist I had before the crash. I know I’ve told friends that if they ever plan on getting a serious TBI, just make sure you have a good therapist first. I’m also grateful for Jodi, who is wonderful to hang out with and lives very close to me, when I’m living in my house.