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CALL OF THE VOID
an MS blog
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HELLO
The call of the void, or l'appel du vide in French, is the sudden desire to jump when encountering a high place. Rather than an expression of despondence, most consider the feeling to be an affirmation of life. Living with MS sometimes feels like standing atop a cliff, peering over the edge to the uncharted waters below. I choose to leap. Come join me.
- Erin
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Figuring-This-Shit-Out-With-Varying-Degrees-Of-Success-Depending-On-The-Day Barbie
Earlier this week, I was back in Cleveland for a long overdue research visit at the Cleveland Clinic. I didn't get to see my 7-Tesla MRI...
Erin Norris
Sep 29, 20231 min read
244 views
0 comments
Six Months In: January 1st, 2023
The process of recovering after stem cell transplant presents its own unique challenges; in some ways it feels more difficult than the...
Erin Norris
Jan 1, 20233 min read
231 views
3 comments
Home: July 13, 2022
I arrived home six days ago on July 7th, and it’s taken this long to get (mostly) settled, and to really start to think about what this...
Erin Norris
Jul 13, 20222 min read
232 views
2 comments
Surely: July 2, 2022
Today is Day +23, and it’s been a week since my last post; it’s remarkable how so much has changed in the last seven days. It’s true what...
Erin Norris
Jul 2, 20222 min read
251 views
2 comments
Earliest Healing: June 25, 2022
Today is Day 16. On my lamb legs I take my fourth post-transplant roll down the hall to…room 16. Here is Carolyn. Her admission...
Erin Norris
Jun 25, 20221 min read
245 views
3 comments
Back from Delirium: June 24, 2022
Today is Day +15: it's been a long time since I've last posted. I had some complications from the stem cell transplant that left me not...
Erin Norris
Jun 24, 20221 min read
231 views
4 comments
Shift Change: June 14, 2022
In the quiet hour around shift change at the hospital, the sun a little lower in the sky through my window, time seems carved out just...
Erin Norris
Jun 14, 20222 min read
229 views
2 comments
Vulnerable: June 12, 2022
In the process of a stem cell transplant, there is a period of time when the myeloablative chemo has completed its job, which is to...
Erin Norris
Jun 12, 20221 min read
201 views
1 comment
Awhile: June 11, 2022
Writing, for me, is an opportunity to lay bare the sometimes jumbled thoughts and emotions that life brings me. It is a place for me to...
Erin Norris
Jun 11, 20221 min read
208 views
0 comments
Admission and Everything After: June 5, 2022
Time is elastic here on the Blood & Marrow Transplant ward. I arrive at the admitting desk at 7:30am on June 2nd with my entourage of...
Erin Norris
Jun 5, 20222 min read
194 views
1 comment
Surprises: May 31, 2022
This last day in May was full of surprises. I am back at Taussig today for labs, a Covid test, and a final checkup to confirm I'm well...
Erin Norris
May 31, 20222 min read
145 views
0 comments
Hope Is a Dangerous Thing: May 30, 2022
Today is my Day -10. The days are labelled this way to count down until Day 0 - my stem cell transplant - and thereafter transition to...
Erin Norris
May 30, 20222 min read
247 views
2 comments
Mile Marker 28: May 24, 2022
I awake this morning to a pink Cleveland sky, my heart aching for Larry and my children. My family drove home yesterday after a visit...
Erin Norris
May 24, 20221 min read
165 views
2 comments
Reprieve: May 14, 2022
My central line was removed yesterday with topical anesthetic and without fanfare. I can return now to stomach sleeping, and soon also to...
Erin Norris
May 14, 20221 min read
150 views
2 comments
The Opposite of Judgement: May 12, 2022
I am losing my hair. It started falling out in the shower on Wednesday, and I joked to Larry and some friends that the Cleveland Clinic...
Erin Norris
May 12, 20222 min read
262 views
2 comments
Serendipity and Stem Cell Collection: May 10, 2022
This past weekend was a quiet lead-up to stem cell collection. Of Neupogen injections with their attendant headaches, nausea that swept...
Erin Norris
May 10, 20223 min read
221 views
0 comments
Caregiving: May 7, 2022
I’m up early again after a sleep of the dead, writing from my bed with a blue sky outside my window. When was the last time I awoke with...
Erin Norris
May 7, 20222 min read
215 views
0 comments
On Anxiety: May 4, 2022
These days fall into an easy rhythm as everything but the most essential is stripped away. I wake, write a bit, attend my clinic...
Erin Norris
May 4, 20222 min read
194 views
2 comments
Wade Lagoon: May 2nd, 2022
Today surprises me with a good day, like the feeling of putting on clean glasses you didn’t even know had become smudged. I am at the...
Erin Norris
May 2, 20222 min read
162 views
2 comments
Cytoxan and the Weekend After: Friday April 29th, 2022
Cytoxan day comes and goes in an organized dance of timed medications and hydration, altogether a little anti-climactic despite the many...
Erin Norris
Apr 30, 20221 min read
131 views
0 comments
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