Dr Hannah Today marks the end of my annual grief gauntlet. It starts subtly enough with the passing of summer, my favorite season. The weather gets cooler and the days shorter. Then I know it’s time to get my game face on. On September 29th five years ago, my sister passed away from ovarian cancer at the … Read more
We all know not to count our chickens before they hatch. A neighbor visited and chatted with my husband about wanting to incubate a batch of ducklings. She’d found a brand new incubator at an estate sale but didn’t know how to use it and was leaving for an extended period of time. They discussed … Read more
Part I: OXYTOCIN I took a magnificent Dementia class by fellow occupational therapist Teepa Snow. She taught a contact technique to use on people with dementia. She elaborated that it led to the release of Oxytocin, a hormone produced in mammalian brains. I call it our herd hormone. I later learned it controls social recognition … Read more
That’s my son about to unfold a Christ Air into the sunset. In his dreams. Going to a skate park is number one on my boys’ list whenever they are asked what they would like to do. We are fortunate to have 3 pretty awesome parks around us. The one above, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, … Read more
“How do you do it?” her new friend gasped incredulously. My kid sister Jackie was at a children’s birthday party and had just shared that she was a single mum. She got this reaction almost every time. This time an extraordinary sense of ownership welled inside her. “I do it just fine with the Lord.” … Read more
To look at me that sunny August morning, one would never have guessed that my heart was flailing arrhythmically within me. It flounced, trying its level best to maintain a beat. Internally I floundered like a cow on skates and try as I might, I could not get my brain to engage. When he wasn’t … Read more