At this spot tonight at 9 PM EST. Swing by.
PAD
Okay, I’m tuned into PBS and ready for the speech. I’m pretty sure this is the first live blog I’ve done since the stroke (that I’ve typed myself; Kath did the typing on last year’s Oscar blog), so it should be interesting. And here we go after the jump.
Gwen and Heath went to see THE COLBERT REPORT on Monday and he was kind enough to pose for a picture with them.
PAD
The first issue of the rebooted X-FACTOR is out today and I figured I’d provide this space for people to chat about it.
PAD
As is appropriate to a year ending in 13, this was quite simply the worst year of my life. The. Worst.
The entire first half was dedicated to learning how to walk and function again. Now, at the end of the year, at least I’m walking again although my legs are weaker. And my right arm is fully functional.
Anything good that happened this year had to do with my daughters. Shana’s theater is succeeding; Ariel graduated college; and Gwen got married. So from a family POV, it’s all been good.
Here’s praying 2014 is more decent to me personally.
PAD
One year ago today, my life fell apart.
It started with my vision on the 27th. I was convinced that I was suffering from some sort of migraines as it became increasingly difficult for me to see. By evening it was getting worse. I figured I was tired. At 2:30 in the morning I got out of bed to go to the bathroom and my right leg was no longer functioning. Believe it or not, I just thought my knee was acting up and actually crawled around to get to the bathroom and back. It wasn’t until the morning when I went to the hospital and spiraled into my new reality: I’d had a stroke.
I spent the next two months relearning how to walk and since then have striven to return to what I used to be. A year later, my legs are still weak. My endurance is not remotely what it used to be. Once upon a time, if I went into New York City, I’d walk all over the place. Now after a few blocks I’m worn out.
And every morning I still have to test my legs to see if they’re functioning. There’s always the fear that I’m going to attempt to stand up and will hit the floor. Every day.
But I should be grateful. The fans have been almost unanimously supportive. Good wishes poured in from all over the world. Book sales skyrocketed for a little while (lately not so much; it’d be nice to see a resurgence. Just saying.) And I will never forget the ovation I received when I showed up at Farpoint convention a week after being released.
Kathleen kept everyone apprised of everything that was going on and without her continued support I know I could never hope to get back to what I was. Likewise my children and family have also been incredibly supportive. And just a few weeks ago I was back in Jacksonville where I was treated and went to lunch with Ali and Sarah, two of the women who were responsible for teaching me how to recover.
And at least I’ve had the opportunity to do so. The worst day of my recovery was the day I learned that retailer Gordon Lee had died…of a stroke. I was a mess that day, wondering what the point of my attempts to walk were. I was sure that a second stroke would come at me any time, and this one would be fatal.
Well, it’s been a year. An amazingly lousy year, but positive things have happened as well. And I’m still here. So that’s something.
PAD
Just wrapped up a second and final pass on “Artful” for Amazon Books. Scheduled to come out June 24, 2014, it’s the previously untold story of the Artful Dodger, hunter of vampyres and other nasty things. I’m very pleased with the way it came out and hope you’ll all be buying it.
PAD
One of the side effects of the stroke is that it’s apparently destroyed my body’s ability to regulate temperature. I used to be something of a polar bear. Cold never bothered me. Now I get so cold so easily that if I’m sucking on an ice cube, I start getting the shivers.
Yesterday my inability to handle cold meant I couldn’t go to a parade that Kathleen and Caroline were marching in as part of Caroline’s girl scout troop. I drove them over to it and just the act of getting into and out of the car in the 30-ish degree weather was enough to reduce me to chills. So the prospect of standing outside for the duration of a parade simply wasn’t possible.
I hate my body.
PAD
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