I keep walking it out, just putting one foot in front of the other.

February 13, 2024

When people ask me what I do, I reply, “I am a writer.”

I worked as a healthcare systems analyst for 30 years. In April 2016, I moved to Louisville to take a management job with a major health insurance company. I lasted five months. Subsequently, I failed at four more jobs in quick succession. Quite suddenly, I was unable to work in my field.

Summer of 2017, I had a bipolar breakdown, complete with a psych hospital stay. Neuro-psych testing revealed serious declines in my cognitive function and memory. One psychiatrist posited it might be early onset dementia. That has not turned out to be the case, thankfully.

In May 2019, I moved back to Washington State to care for my now 85-year-old mother. She was hospitalized in serious condition with necrotizing fasciitis and was not expected to pull through. She did. A few months later, she had major heart surgery. She recovered from that as well.

Now, she is rapidly declining from vascular dementia and a host of other health challenges. I did my very best in my role as her caregiver. Then last September, I hit a wall. I could care for her no more. After 4 ½ years, I told my brother I’d be moving by the end of the year. I feared if I stayed any longer, I’d not survive…