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Not sure where to begin, but I'm in a hurry so I'll just jump in and ramble.
As some of you know, Suzanne has been battling depression for a while -- the
main catalysts being the loss of her father to cancer last year right before
entering a high-stress graduate program at the MIT Media Lab. Fortunately she
has been receiving some excellent treatment over the past few months but
unfortunately it's been extremely difficult for her as she is in the category
of what they sometimes call "treatment resitant" depression, meaning that
various antidepressant medications only work temporarily, even in combination
with group and personal therapy.
Fortunately, there is light at the end of the tunnel, and an almost guaranteed
cure, but it is even today still a very scary experience for people -- it's
called ECT (which stands for "electroconvulsive therapy" but it's also
sometimes known simply as shock treatment). Basically it amounts to sending
a short square-wave current directly into the brain -- just enough to induce
a controlled seizure, which causes all the neurons in the brain to fire
continuously for a minute or so and do a low-level temporary reset. It's
done under short-term general anesthesia and they give a muscle relaxant to
paralyze the body so that the seizure has no physical side effects. It's a
fascinating subject which science still doesn't understand exactly how it
works, but it is hands-down the most effective treatment for major depression,
and in the cases where they use it, it's something where the disadvantages of
trying it greatly outweigh the disadvantages of not trying it.
She had been having ECT on an outpatient basis (a 3-hour visit two to three
times per week) and that had generally been going extremely (almost
miraculously) well except for the physical side-effects of the anesthesia and
the physical side-effects of medication changes, but earlier this week she was
feeling unsafe and unsettled at home, for various reasons including the fact
that I can only be awake 16-17 hours per day. So, on Monday she checked
herself into the hospital to stay indefinitely for continued treatment as an
inpatient. (And she says she's eager to write a FAQ about the whole ECT
experience. :-)
I should take a tangent here and mention that she has absolutely no problem
with this all being mentioned publicly -- in fact when I tell her that I've
finally gotten around to making a post about it, she'll be relieved that
people know -- she wants people to understand what is going on and she also
considers so many people in the community to be friends. The hospital is
ultra-ultra-restrictive about information and doesn't even have her listed
at the main desk, but she's not embarassed because she understands that
depression is a very common and human thing and we both feel it is better for
people who are affected as a result of this to know what is going on rather
than to wonder what's up.
Anyway, if you're worried, I'm worried too, but rest assured that at least
for now she's receiving treatment at one of the very best hospitals in the
country. It's going to be very rough for the next week or two, and then
either she'll feel great again as she has at a couple of points in the past
couple of weeks, or she'll feel groggy and have a slow recovery through July
and August.
If anyone (anyone at all, it doesn't matter if you live halfway around the
world and have never met) would like to write her a message (just a 'hi' or
some words of encouragement or whatever), feel free to write her an email
(but send it to her care of me here at <lehman@javanet.com>) and I will
print it on paper and bring it to her at the hospital. If there's anyone
in town who'd like to visit her sometime next week, please let me know and
we could carpool there or something.
I sent out a very brief note to the participants of the AucZILLA XII auction
the other day and was overwhelmed by the amount of supportive words expressed
by people who wrote back with sympathies, etc., especially by the number of
people who mentioned that they've had close ones who've suffered and recovered
from depression. It's just part of the human condition, I guess, and it's too
bad that there's such a negative stigma on the whole thing in society.
All right, I'm off to the hospital again -- I don't know how much I'll be
online this week or whether I can make it to the NELUG meeting tonight.
Thanks in advance for everyone's patience and understanding.
--Todd
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Message has 12 Replies:
 | | Re: Suzanne is in the hospital
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| Hi Todd, Give Suzanne, my best...I know she can pull through. I have a few people in my family that suffered depression in the past and came through with flying colors, so I know it can be done... Mike Z. And if you need anything, don't forget most (...) (24 years ago, 12-Jul-00, to lugnet.people, lugnet.org.us.nelug)
| | | Re: Suzanne is in the hospital
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| Todd & Suzanne, Well, just know our thoughts and prayers are with you and Suzanne, and I hope for a speedy recovery. My dad had depression for a number of years, and is probably one of the main reasons I have not seen him since 1994. Take care! (...) (24 years ago, 12-Jul-00, to lugnet.people)
| | | Re: Suzanne is in the hospital
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| (...) Don't know what the right term would be - ironic or poetic or something - I just popped over here to follow-up my UCS post and explain why I've been AWOL for almost two years. The primary reason is that I lost my father to cancer about a year (...) (24 years ago, 12-Jul-00, to lugnet.people, lugnet.org.us.nelug)
| | | Re: Suzanne is in the hospital
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| Hello Suzanne and Todd, Our strength and prayers go out to you both. Be patient and have faith. Hope you both can find peaceful acceptance and understanding while coming to terms with one of life's many testing situations. The van der Graaf Family (24 years ago, 12-Jul-00, to lugnet.people, lugnet.org.us.nelug)
| | | Re: Suzanne is in the hospital
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| Todd, On behalf of all the Legomaniacs here in New York City, please pass on our best wishes to Suzanne. With every brick we stick, our thoughts and love will be with her. Here's something that should brighten her day, too: Lego will soon be making (...) (24 years ago, 14-Jul-00, to lugnet.people, lugnet.org.us.nelug)
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