About Me
Hi Everyone!
I’m Stu, and I’m a narcoleptic.
(This is where I hear your response in my head in unison everyone saying, “hello Stu”. As if being narcoleptics needed a 12-step program)
I’ve been diagnosed for a few years now. The main symptom of my narcolepsy is a little something called “Cataplexy”. Cataplexy is brought on by a strong emotional response, most commonly laughing. It can be brought on by anger, stress and even orgasm. While the effects of cataplexy differ from person to person, what most commonly happens is I become paralyzed with little to no ability to control my body, shortly followed by me falling to the ground.
I don’t want my blog to become soley about narcolepsy, but you’ll probably notice it does come up in entries quite often. I’ll explain more about this couple more paragraphs from here…
There’s more to me than my narcolepsy…Like my wife. She is the most amazing person I’ve ever met. She’s smart, beautiful and she is okay with me going on crazy napping binges.
I have 2 daughters…My oldest daughter is an amazing dancer. Like myself, she’s addicted to music and hates to think about life without it. My youngest daughter has an amazing gift of being a talented social butterfly and a creative heavyweight. She could easily grow up to be a lawyer or a scientist real easy.
Truth is, both of them have mad skills and smarts to grow up and be ANYTHING they want to be.
I think I’m an okay cook. I love gardening and hiking. I invent things. I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I play guitar and bass pretty good. I write songs. I love peanut butter and apples. I have strong political opinions.
I’m a bit of a computer geek. I’ve been a consultant to Intel and WebMD.
My favorite music ranges from abstract jazz from the 40’s to Anything loud and aggressive. My short attention span stears me away popular music.
I’m not going to lie and say I don’t like TV…I do! My favorite shows are Family Guy, Breaking Bad, Good Eats, and most things on Discovery and The History Channel.
So…let me get back to that whole narcolepsy thing to wrap this up.
Originally I was mis-diagnosed as Bi-polar and given meds that helped turn my life sour for a time. I ended up homeless and suicidal. It was ugly, and at the time I had no idea why things were happening the way they were. The people who were “close” to me decided it would be easier to avoid me. I needed help, but the a-holes around me were to damn self absorbed and consumed by their own issues to care.
It was about the time I saw the end of the rope quickly approaching, my wife stepped in to my life. She refused to believe I was bi-polar, and helped me find good medical help. When I was homeless, she met with me and showed me where the shelters were. She even brought me food sometimes. When showers were in short supply and when I thought my brain was melting, she was never embarrassed to be seen with me. She saw the real me when I even thought I was lost.
It was because of her I was able to meet up with some very talented medical help. It was through the amazing medical minds I was able to get on the right track to figuring out what was really going on, and what was NOT going on at all!
Now? I’m sharing with people what saved me. It wasn’t God exactly. It wasn’t any kind of self-help book. It wasn’t my family or friends. When it came down to it, all the things I just mentioned helped (sometimes), but when it really, really, really comes down to why I’m still here, I would have to say…well, just stay tuned to my blog. Maybe you’ll figure it out. That’s what I had to do!
Love and Prayers!
-Stu
