As Struggle Bus has spread, I’ve received some variation of the following question repeatedly: “Can you tell me how to write and publish a book?” If you’re someone who would like an answer to that question, this post is for you! If not, well, ignore this. There are a lot of words here. A lot of words.
It’s weird to know that we’re living in one of those moments that will be permanently etched into the pages of the history books, isn’t it? Even more, it’s weird that this event has escalated to the point that it won’t be relegated strictly to the history books. No, COVID-19 will find its way into virtually every other textbook as well: science and biology and finance and management and IT and economics and supply chain management and political science and psychology and journalism and education and nursing. It’s our kids’ “Back in my day…” story. It’s our “Remember when…”
Was that plug shameless enough? I think so.
For those of you who don’t know us, 2019 was the worst year of our lives. On May 4, a series of severe, uncontrollable seizures forced us to induce our son, Isaiah, into a coma. For two months, every attempt to bring him back was met with a return of persistent, relentless seizure activity. We spent every second on edge as we watched our son fight for his life. In the search for answers, we worked with doctors from Pediatric ICU, Neurology, Rheumatology, Nephrology, Infectious Disease, Immunology, Endocrinology, Pulmonology, Palliative Care, and Hematology. In addition to countless blood draws, IVs, tests, EKGs, x-rays, and constant EEG monitoring, Isaiah endured three spinal taps, two CT scans, four brain MRIs, two full-body MRIs, three days of hypothermia, two high-dose steroid treatments, three feeding tubes, a blood transfusion, four failed attempts at burst suppression, five rounds of plasmapheresis, 37 days on a ventilator, 41 days in ICU, and 89 days total in the hospital. We watched his vitals crash time and time again and came very, very close to losing him more times that I can count. It was by far the deepest, most prolonged, and most consuming suffering we’ve ever experienced.
It’s been two weeks since the release of the book. Here’s the latest.
As many of you are aware, we have quite a lot of things going on in our life in 2020 (well, we’ve always had a lot going on…but especially in 2020). Yes, I’ve recently released my book; but despite this blog and my social media accounts functioning as annoying and repeated pop-up ads for my book (sorry, it’s the only way I know how to market it), my little book is actually one of the least important things in our world this year. Sure, I’d love for it to do well; but our son’s ongoing health issues continue to be our priority (the book was written prior to his health issues).
I’ve run across a few things over the past couple years that have made my life easier, more efficient, and/or generally more enjoyable. Today, I’m passing along these things to you. I hope they improve your life as well. You have very likely heard of some or all of these things; but I’m posting the list anyhow, because I’ve been surprised by how many people in real-life conversations have not heard of many of these items. Oh, and none of these are paid endorsements. I don’t do those.
