Ending my almost year long blogging hiatus ;)

I'm currently using up leftover vacation time at my work so I don't lose it before my anniversary date, and since the plans that I had didn't work out, I figured it would be a good time to at least try to restart my blog. I haven't written anything in almost a year for multiple reasons. My laptop fried shortly before I went on hiatus, and instead of getting it fixed it or buying a new one I decided to just go without one for a while. Instead I decided to get a tablet and use my family's PC if I really need to. I can be on my feet all day at work, and function fine but I have a hard time sitting in front of the computer for a couple hours to write.



I also stopped writing because I was burned out with it. Except for one other shorter hiatus I had been writing once or twice a month, and trying to do so at the same time every month. When I first started blogging I was encouraged to keep a pattern of that times that I posted, instead of posting sporadically. Reading other blogs, I've noticed that most people post sporadically. The people who do post in more of a pattern or even on a regular basis are professional bloggers, and I'm definitely not. When I stopped writing, I was also burned out on the topic.



I picked hydrocephalus to write in the first place because I knew that I wouldn't be running out of topics easily, and it's something that I have to live with it. The disadvantage is that it caused me to overthink things on a regular basis. So in order to try to avoid letting this blog to have a negative effect on me, and trying to push myself to think of topics and write in a certain time frame I've decided to just post whenever I'm ready, which could be a few days or several months apart. More than often I'll be writing to get things off my chest that I don't think would be interrupted right if I posted it as a Facebook status instead. But I also plan on writing on topics as it comes to me. I also have multiple posts that I was working on when I stopped blogging. So they've been in my drafts for a year or longer. I'm going to go back through and rewrite some of those, and then just scrap others. I'm also going to spend more time writing each post so it will be more than scattered thoughts.





This post is pretty scattered, but I did at least have a good idea of what I was going to write before I started. I did also end up writing a lot more on a topic that I've covered almost every time I've taken any kind of hiatus, so I'm going to cut it short because my next post is probably going to be a long one. The reason that I try to not really long posts/articles is because I have trouble reading really long articles etc. in one setting, especially if I intend to remember the majority of what I'm reading. That most likely has to do with my nonverbal learning disability, and probably from Hydrocephalus itself too. I assume that the majority of the people that read my blog found it via search engines or social media because they have similar medical problems. So I don't want to cause the same problems that I personally try to avoid. Thanks for reading :)

Traveling alone with Hydrocephalus (and getting back into writing my blog)

This is the first post that of several that I'm backlogging so when I do eventually post this it will be at least a month or two after I actually wrote it. I got burned out but kept on posting for a while after usually not actually posting something the day or even week that I had planned to. When I went on the adventure this post is about I ended up abandoning this blog altogether and have only written one substantial post since July. I enjoyed not having to think about it on a regular basis to keep on top of it and I plan on writing it now in a way that I don't have to anymore.

In August I spent two days traveling via Greyhound bus from Arizona to Iowa and then back two weeks later to be with one of my best friends for his wedding day. I wasn't told I couldn't fly and I haven't been given the impression from my neurosurgeon that it would be in the past. I am however having shunt problems and the idea of that and elevated pressure made me feel uncomfortable. Also not counting meals taking the Greyhound is usually half the price of flying. Some people with shunts have problems with flying but others have flown many many times without having a problem. If you want to know if you can fly or not your neurosurgeon would be your best source the majority of the time.

The other problem was that it was my first time traveling out of state (I've gone up to Phoenix a few times alone prior). I really didn't want to bring it up to random people I sat by on the bus or especially in stations so I got a medical id bracelet instead. If something went very wrong my bracelet would have been noticeable and I had all my contact info in my wallet. Of course it would be more risky for people with other conditions like epilepsy for example or if their shunt malfunctions more on a regular basis. I made it up there safe and really got to unwind for a couple weeks.

My anxiety level because of the smallness of the town and not knowing other people except for the two people I was visiting and a few others I met while up there, I'm sure it would have had the opposite affect with some people. I felt noticeably better when I was up there except for allergies because of the lack of pollen in Arizona, and I slept better. I made it up there and back safe and I took advantage of the medical id by going alone to the Hydrocephalus walk in Phoenix in October.

Taking a break from this blog, but I plan to start back up at some point.

I've had a lot of traffic on my blog since I stopped writing regularly a few months ago. It's inspired me to keep at it, but I sort of burned myself out and if I do write a actual post I don't think I'll be able to do it on a regular basis. To anyone who had found my blog through a specific post and decided to look more into it or have been following my blog, I'm not going to end it anytime soon but it will probably be a while before I start posting again. I'm going to start backlogging before I actually start posting again so hopefully time won't sneak up on me so fast. In the mean time I'm focusing on another things and get myself in a better place physically, mentally and emotionally. I know this blog has helped others and it's helped myself as well, but it's also affected me negatively in a way, making me think of the condition more than I should. I'm gonna try to start writing about others things and possibly starting a 2nd blog along with this one.

Finishing the second year of writing my blog and looking for subject ideas

On the 12th of next month it will be two years since I started this blog. I had trouble for the first year trying to post on a regular basis. At the very start I was trying to write twice a week, but within the first couple months I switched to once a week and it worked pretty well for a while. I ended stopping completely for a couple months and started up again about a year ago. I started up at every other Friday and more often than not that has worked well. It wasn't until the last couple months that I've started to have a hard time coming up with topics again. Some topics I'm picking especially my series of "Media views on Hydrocephalus" takes more time researching for the subject than actually writing it. The problem is I usually don't have time to do both when I get off work on Thursday and Friday nights. I'm going to at least try to start researching at an earlier time in the week so I'll be finished by the time Friday comes around. I still intend to continue writing this blog for as long as I can, even if it means a lot more guest blogs and cutting back how often I write again.

 I've stumbled across a lot of information researching topics that I probably wouldn't have found in any other way. I've met one of my main goals of writing this blog, and that was to help others. I've been able to communicate with some of them through social media so I'm sure there are others that haven't contacted me.

I'm asking for ideas on what to write about, so if you would like me to write about a certain subject rather or not I've covered it already please contact me. I've been trying to keep up with my e-mail so if you don't know me or don't have a Facebook, you can contact me there with ideas. If you do know me, which would probably be the case because I get a lot more views from Facebook and Twitter than searches from please contact with me through social media. I'm also going to start asking more people to guest blog, so if you're interested in doing that rather or not you have your own idea for a subject please contact me in the same way. Thanks for reading :)

Reasons for not being able to write as consistently right now..

I've been writing this blog for about close to 2 years, and I've been posting at least something every other Friday since the start of this year. Before that I had taken a break for a few months when I was stressing out about work too much and pretty much dropped everything I had been doing at the time. I might be hitting that point but with medical problems this time. I'm not going to discuss any of it here. People can access my blog simply by looking up my name on Google, and I don't want to talk about it much on a page where everyone can see. It might sound silly considering how much I've written about my past and some current struggles, but that's the past and I at least don't feel people could use that against me now much. When I've spoken about current struggles it's usually things where the people who may know me or maybe have only met me a few times can use it to understand me a little bit better. Yes, it can be held against me and be used in a negative way but because it would only be the way I'm treated as a person I'm willing to take that risk. With medical problems it's something I'll rather keep it between people I'm close enough and trust enough to be Facebook friends with, and also others with the same condition but I'll still only give them a certain amount of information unless it's someone I've gotten particularly close to.

I don't want to stop writing altogether during the next few months, but it might not be necessarily every other week like it has been for the last 10 months. I had a couple posts that was a couple days late but except for that I've been pretty steady. I understand that writing is something that you can only do when you feel like it, and most if not all of friends that write blogs or other blogs don't do it on specific days so people who read it on a regular basis can get a idea of when to look for a new post. The Hydrocephalus Association and other foundations may, but I haven't been following their blogs very closely and haven't paid attention to when they post. Of course there's nothing wrong with posting just whenever you think of something to write, or as soon after as possible rather it's finding of time or just finding the desire to write. Posting on specific days was a idea that was brought up to me when I first got the idea to write a blog, and was asking for feedback from Facebook friends.

Considering you have to want to write to really do it, then I'm pretty impressed that I've been able to be this consistent with about 20 straight posts every other week, give or take a day since my last hiatus. Of course a few of these posts were guest blogs and others were ideas that I've gotten from others. As long as I still have ideas floating around in my mind, getting ideas from others and I have friends who are willing to write something once in a while I don't plan on stopping writing this blog completely any time soon. Medical problems might keep me more behind at some point, but if I know I'll need to take a hiatus again at any point because of it or other problems I'll try to post about so it wouldn't just been a sudden stop. I know people have many reasons to stop writing their blog but with a few of the blogs I've found I've noticed that they just came to a sudden stop a while before without any explanation at all. Of course people have reasons for a sudden stop like that, but it's something I'll rather do differently. I realize that people find my blog all the time because one of the posts show up in a search they do on Google, or on other transferring sites. I rarely get new followers at least that I know of but if they do or they just go digging through my other posts I'll rather not have them wonder.

By the time I had remembered to write it was the day after I normally post and I knew I wouldn't have much time to sit down and write something for another few days, forget thinking of a topic and doing research ahead of time. Thanks for reading and I hope that I'll be able to get back on schedule for my next post on the 2nd of next month.

One year ago..

One year ago,I posted my first entry for my blog.A friend/co-worker had seen some of my facebook posts and he inspired me to go bigger,even write a book.It was the first time I was going to sit down and write something in at least a few years,and I didn't know where to start let alone write a book.I knew that writing a blog was the best option but I don't know much that I could write about on a regular basis.I ended up picking "neurological disorders",because rather it's recognized or acknowledged at all it's something that's effected me in every day my whole life.I may not know as much as others,but I have learned a lot about it during the last few years.There's also a lot I know about it that I didn't have to find out from other people with the same condition that I have,or other sources.While most of what I dealt with growing up was a mystery to me.I knew that a lot of it had to do with my neurological problems,rather I knew what it was exactly or not or even if I didn't have proof.I also want to continue to find out more about brain injuries and the specific neurological disorder that I have.I wanted to help others,and reach out to parents of kids with Hydrocephalus specifically but also others living with it.During the last year I've met my goals for this blog,and I hope to continue educating myself and others.I'll like to write a book eventually once I can focus on it,and gather enough accurate info for the subject that I've picked.For the time being I wish to keep the subject a secret,except for those that I'm the closest to.

If you haven't followed my blog at all and either recently or just now found it I have a neurological condition called Hydrocephalus.Hydrocephalus means "water on the brain" and it's basically a back of cerebrospinal fluid in and around the brain.1 or 2 out of every 1000 babies are born with this condition,and many others develop later on in life.Causes of hydrocephalus after birth include other neurological disorders,head injury,sickness or unknown causes.In my case,the cause is unknown and no one knows if I was born with it or not.I started showing mostly rare symptoms of it as a infant,but because of that I wasn't diagnosed until I was 17 months.Since then I've gone 25 years without needing a revision,22 years of barely any noticeable problems with my shunt and had a 18 year period where I had no CT scans.I only needed to see my neurosurgeon once in that period of time and wen't several years without any contact with him needed.The lack of surgeries or even hospital visits is the reason why I decided to do my blog on everyday experiences instead,because what most kids with hydrocephalus experienced was all foreign to me.

Before I stopped writing a few years before I started this blog,I had almost always wrote on a regular basis in one form or another since the 3rd grade.I had a teacher that changed my mindset on writing from something that I hated doing and always tried to get out to something that I could get really creative with and enjoy doing.Rather or not I was given a vague subject or if I could pick something out I was enjoyed it all the way through my senior year.I probably put the most effort in it than other subjects,and I was normally a overachiever when it came to writing.Near the end of high school and until I got my first job,I put a lot of the anger and other emotions into poetry.At first for English projects and then as a hobby after high school just because it was something that worked.For a few years after high school I continued writing either when writing e-mails or on my "Myspace blog".But as I started to get into Facebook I used my Myspace account less and less.Because of a lot of the people I knew joining it too,I no longer felt the need to contact on a regular basis with E-mail with them either.

Thanks for reading,I hope to have another year of researching and writing.I also hope that rather or not this is your first time reading or you've been keeping up with my blog for a while that you will be able to learn something,or a lot this year.