Islam, Autism, Mom-ism.
Guess what, I retired. Officially, but somehow in my mind… temporarily? Ok, I don’t think taking a temporary break from work is called retirement. Traditionally that’s a vacation. I really did retire though. I no longer work for Muslimmatters.org, and it’s purely because I didn’t…
AssalamuAlaikum Blogistan! Good news, we’re self-isolating due to the Coronavirus, aka COVID-19. It’s been well over a week since we’ve all been at home. HF is working from home, Khalid and Musfira’s school has been indefinitely postponed and Iman was already homeschooling so here we…
So Alhamdulillah, the long story of why my wrist hurt and typing became torture is summed up as thus: I had torn cartilage in my wrist – not because I was out fist-fighting or getting injured in air-guitar championships, but because I have a connective…
Whether you want it or not, habibti. Cuz I didn’t want it but I got it anyway!
AssalamuAlaikum people who are still here and haven’t died of boredom yet! October is Dysautonomia awareness month, and my next vlog will be about … drumroll please… Dysautonomia. So, any questions? Apart from “what the heck is that?” I’ll answer them InshaAllah as best as…
So if there were ever any doubts that Owl is a dramatic, attention-seeking medical diva- allow me to lay them to rest. On July 1 she went in for her CT Angio. This is where they injected a radioactive dye into her brains to see how…
I think I may not have updated for over a month. High score! So here’s the world’s shortest summary of last month: Iman: Grommets in, tonsils & adenoids out. Two weeks off school, ice-cream and lollipops FTW! We spent a day and a half in…
I am busy curating powerful germs. Because everyone needs a hobby. By Abez, The End.
I invited myself over to a friend’s house yesterday. Normally I invite people over to my house instead, but since we’ve been without a housekeeper for the past three weeks, I don’t think any of my friends would appreciate an afternoon in the sty with…
So I went into the bathroom yesterday. I picked up a kids toothbrush and I squirted some pink, raspberry flavored, fluoride-free toothpaste on it. Then, I opened my own mouth, popped it in, and got halfway through brushing and humming the toothbrush song before I…
Everyone has a purpose in this life. Sometimes I think mine may be to give medical staff something funny to talk about over break, MashaAllah. My doctors are trying to figure out if my POTS, progressive weakness & neuropathy are caused by an underlying auto-immune…
Once upon a time, my sister Owl used to blog, so if I needed to share an update about her, I could just link her post. However, it’s been a while since she has, and I think her blog may no longer be public access,…
Aaaaaand now that I’m out I can’t go back in again, and overwhelmingly I am getting asked one question from the people who know me in real life: How come I didn’t know you were sick?! Well, it’s not really a talking point for most…
There aren’t enough characters in the title limit to fully express how many Alhamdulillahs I would like to put in the title, so I have to settle for one. So, Alhamdulillah, my neurologist in Chicago (who I visit this last week) has helped me clarify…
Sometimes, when my arms feel especially weak and the bread for dinner seems especially chewy, I feel kind of deflated and end up googling for things like “myopathy experts,” and “where to find help for myopathy.” Due to things like location and financial constraints, nothing…
Me: Hey Internet, guess what! You: What? Me: I got my disabled parking spot approved the other day, hooray! You: Congratulations…? Wait, why do you need a disabled parking spot? Me: Oh. Well, I kinda omitted this from my blog for the past few…
So HF is kindly accompanying me to my third of three urgent doc visits this week- I’ve been jumped by bronchitis, sinusitis, and laryngitis simultaneously, and it’s taking some tweaking of my antibiotics to keep me reasonably upright and functioning within working requirements. I’m embarrassed…
Khalid fell down and busted his head on the corner of the wall. Stood him up and said Khalid, did you hit your head? With blood pouring down his face he answers: No. No tears, no crying. Rocking in pain, but outright denial because…
In the culmination of a journey that began in November, I finally have an assessment of my knee from Dr. Extremely Awesome of Harvard and pro-sports patients fame. OB’s have pictures of babies from happy parents. Pediatricians have thank-you’s posted on their walls that are…
Sorry everyone, I know I’ve been AWOL. Both kids are sick, Khalid has been up at night last two nights in a row, and he’s coughing and snotty and fevery in the day. Last night he coughed himself awake around 11 and was awake until…
Alhamdulillah, HF had surgery today to fix the wildly deviated septum and outrageously deviant sinuses in his nose, and everything went according to plan. And lots of this went according to a totally different plan. HF had planned to check in to the hospital at…
So Joy- Khalid’s full-time caregiver and ABA therapist- is on vacation for a month as of yesterday, which was also Khalid’s first day of school, which was also the day that Iman fell down in the hallway and knocked loose and fractured one of her…
Day four of noodle-induced food poisoning. Being brave and having an egg for breakfast. If anyone needs me, I’ll be laying down on this soft, soft keyboard. *urp*
SubhanAllah. It’s 2 am again. It turns out that the reason why Khalid has been cranky, fevery, and screamy all night for the past four nights is because he has a throat infection. This is the fourth all-nighter that Khalid and I are pulling…
Doc: So, how’s your knee feeling? Me: Alhamdulillah, pretty good! It’s not yellow anymore, and it’s not creaking or grinding. Doc: (Throwing his hands in the air) Thank God! Now stop getting into car accidents! Or we’ll have to install a bubble around you or…
So the surgery went well, Alhamdulillah. It’s only been two days since the operation, but already the knee is free of the crunchy, audible grinding that was the result of damaged cartilage rubbing against damaged cartilage every time I flexed or extended my knee. Alhamdulillah,…
InshaAllah, I will be heading into the hospital this Thursday morning for another surgery on my right knee, the one I keep banging up in car accidents, plural. SubhanAllah 🙂 Female visitors with shawarma welcome. Some people, when they imagine Jannah, hope for the exquisite…
One little Iman jumping on the bedShe fell off and bumped her head!Momma called the doctor and the doctor said:Take her to the ER, she might need stitches. As life imitates art (or vice-versa?) Iman smashed her head against the corner of a dressing table…
For the most part, I consider myself a fairly well put together person. Alhamdulillah, I’m not easily given to panic or woe-is-me-ism. Lately though, I find myself being ambushed by sudden, overwhelming feelings of hopelessness and futility. Am I depressed? Not nearly as much as…
Had HF’s family over for dinner. Made chicken kabobs. And gave every last person food poisoning, in varying degrees, with seven requiring the hospital. Myself included. SubhanAllah. 2010 has been an interesting year already, no?
The believer is not broken by sorrow Any more than a mountain is leveled by wind And neither are battered, but shaped By the force of storms they would weather
One of the great things about not updating your blog regularly is that no one really visits it anymore. So you can write whatever you want to. Like this: Lab Technician: Ah, a BHCG test, expecting a baby? Me: No, having a miscarriage. LT: Oh,…
So my surgery happened successfully on Saturday morning, and had some interesting highlites. Dr. Anesthetist: How are you feeling? Me: Cold, your OR feels like a refrigerator. Dr. : I’ll fix that. I will give you a cocktail. (Holding up a syringe) Me: What flavor…
For my next trick, I will post a two minute review of the hospital before the nurse comes in and starts poking me with things. The room is nice. Like five-star nice. Hotel nice. With mini fridge and huge flat screen TV, and and vanity…
For being my more interesting Orthopedic Surgeon. And since I told him about my blog (because I was looking for the video of my previous knee arthroscopy and knew I had posted here a while back) I am now obliged to wave at him. *waves*…
There are some days when the only thing you’re good for is filling the stapler. On those days, the most productive thing you can do is fill the stapler. There is no point in trying to answer your email or put together a proposal or…
So, tonsils. They’re these things that don’t apparently do much. I say apparently because they must be there for a reason, it’s just not apparent to us what it is yet. The sole purpose of mine seemed to be the harbouring of illegal rabble-rousing bacteria…
Seeing as how it’s been SUCH a long time since I posted, I wanna type a rockem-sockem kinda blog, but alas, it hasn’t been a rockem-sockem kinda week. It’s been an interesting week, what with my little brotha and his little friend (nineteen year olds…
Right Brain: I’m cold, turn the fan off. Left Brain: I’m freezing cold too. Right Brain: Then we agree. So get up and turn the fan off. Left Brain: We can’t. If we turn off the fan then the mosquitoes will get us. Right Brain…