Well it has been ages since I've written... Life has been a bit busy, and then it's not and just when you think it's all calm you get tricked and you're on rough seas again. Not that the seas have been too rough lately, just a few swells and some tricky waves to avoid. Fortunately nothing to do with Kit. His seas have been calm.
The last time I wrote I had been to some advisory board meetings and from those I have been asked to work with Janssen Pharmaceuticals on a media campaign focusing on caregivers. It's not about their drug (although I guess ultimately they like me because we like these shots) but it's really about what it's like to be the care giver for a loved one with schizophrenia. It's been quite fun - I was interviewed on a London, ON radio station, then was on Rogers TV. Both were a stretch for me - I'm not a public speaker, but since I totally believe in making sure care givers get more support, I guess I felt I could speak to this. The radio one was easy - they edited the whole thing and brought it down to about a minute. But being on live TV was a bit nerve wracking. I was on with a Dr. Ruth Baruch who is a psychiatrist in Toronto. She talked about the medical side of the illness and the importance of family in recovery and I told some of my story. I really enjoyed doing it with Ruth. We were supposed to be on CP24 at noon yesterday but the Grey Cup Parade had us postponed to a later date. The great thing about all of it is that the caregiver survey was done by Janssen but we are not expected or even encouraged to speak at all about medication. I would feel a bit uncomfortable if I was promoting their medication - as I know that each person reacts differently to each medication, and that for some people medication isn't the only answer. There are just so many different ways of approaching mental illness - it's very personal.
The exciting this for me is I have been invited to Banff by Janssen to speak to their sales reps about caring for someone with SZ. They are flying me out on Monday and I speak on Tuesday. It's just to about 40 sales persons, and in small groups of eight or so at a time. It should be really interesting to see their perception of the illness and for them to hear from someone who is living with someone who has it. I'm assuming some of them will have some idea about what it's like, and others won't. Anyhow - I'm kind of excited to have a paid vacation!! This will be the first time I will have traveled by myself in many years. I have a good friend in Calgary who is going to come up to Banff to spend a day after with me. That will be so lovely. Then later in December they have asked me to come speak to their annual meeting of 400 people... YIKES!!
For those of you wondering how my boy is doing - he's good. Has been working for us at the shop a bit here and there helping with inventory. He's not doing much else but he seems to be okay. One year now of renting Adam's basement. Time just flies by.
