Sarah Rise Weekly Updates

A few weeks ago I started taking Topiramate to hopefully function as a cluster buster for my headaches. Around that time I also started feeling slightly weird in a variety of small ways, but each way could have some alternate explanation, especially once I got covid, at which point I assumed that my feeling weird… Read more »

Remarkably, in the past, whenever one member of our family got covid, somehow the others did not get it. This time around, Sarah, Carl, and I all got it. Knock on wood, somehow Amy managed to avoid it – perhaps because she spends so little time around us during the school week. Last weekend I… Read more »

The veritable wringer. That is what I felt like I went through this week. And yet, with a bit more time to think about things, I also considered that maybe it was a week filled with blessings. Either way, it was still certainly an intensely full week. Despite my parenthetical care to whisper about my… Read more »

Last Sunday as part of the finale to the Big Family Celebration, we all participated in a skateboarding lesson. I was so impressed with Sarah for suiting up in her helmet and pads, not doubting of herself or her abilities, with a desire to learn something new. Amy also tried the lesson, though she later… Read more »

My cluster headache story arc is always, always, always the same, and yet every time I think things will be different. This thought and hope are true, because I do always try new things and they always do work some of the time. Yet, despite the nuances, the basic shape of my experience repeats every… Read more »

Last Sunday when we got home from a week away, Sarah went inside while Carl and I sat in the car summoning the energy to unload and get ready for the week. Sarah emerged carrying a box and saying it was heavy. Carl met her and took the box. I was busy on my phone…. Read more »

Polar bears don’t get headaches. Or, if they do, please don’t tell me. I have still been getting headaches, as if I hadn’t done my rescue remedies at all. Maybe somehow they only work if I suffer for several weeks first? Not only have I still been getting cluster headaches, but my hope and faith… Read more »

Two nights ago I pulled an all-nighter, but not for lack of trying to sleep. It was a new and weird experience. To back up for context… I haven’t had any cluster headaches in two years (thanks to medication), but one trigger for a cluster to start is high altitude. I have been lucky that… Read more »

What a time we have had! A little over a week ago, we got a ride from Sarah’s favorite taxi driver to the airport, ready to board a plane to Chicago for Higgy Con, a conference for kids with scoliosis. We were decked out in custom-made shirts that say “I’ve got your back Amy” for… Read more »

Last Sunday we had an experience where “all’s well that ends well” but it was scary for a few moments. After a wonderful day playing in the water at Sandcastle (a local water amusement park), we lost Sarah. One minute Carl and I were standing and talking while Sarah was in our view… we had… Read more »