(part 1 here) I began a suicide note which I worked on constantly until I had what I would call a nervous breakdown (now called a “major depressive episode.”). I began to shake and a thin, plaintiff wail began to well up inside me. With my cousin Jane rubbing my back to soothe me, I […]
Depression
Twice in the Psych Unit part 1
(part 2 here) In 1996, while living and working in Cleveland, Ohio, I was diagnosed with a carotid body tumor – a rare, usually benign growth almost always occurring in men over forty. I was forty one at the time. The otolaryngologist, Dr. Harvey, explained that the risks of cutting along the artery wall were […]
Known
I remember vividly the fall that I began graduate school at the University of Chicago, walking around campus and feeling completely and totally invisible. It was an awful feeling. Now, I’m aware that some of this is because I went to a college with around 2000 students, so walking around campus I would recognize almost […]