Look around, Look around 

At how lucky we are to be alive right now. . .

– – The Schuyler Sisters, Hamilton

As I’ve been working on some things for my book this evening, I stumbled across something I didn’t know before: Charlotte Bronte, author of Jane Eyre, is widely thought by her biographers to have died of morning sickness.

Well, actually they believe she died of hyperemesis gravidarum, which is severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy – so an extreme type of morning sickness.

My mind is just blown.

Please don’t misunderstand. Hyperemesis gravidarum is awful. Women can become terribly ill and need IV hydration and hospitalization for it.

It. Is. Miserable.

But fatal?

I had to sit and think on this.

Of course, as I did, I can see that, absent the ability to stop the vomiting or rehydrate a person, it is possible that dehydration and malnutrition would result in death. . . but, WOW.

Considering this, I realized that it hasn’t been so long ago that things of this nature happened – and that it is a blessing indeed to have my many many pills to take for my assorted medical conditions.

my daily meds. In addition, there are some 15 – 20 as needed pills each day and patches and creams and eye drops and nasal sprays. . .

At times, having them can be overwhelming – but I certainly would not be here today without them.

In the bigger picture, even in dealing with this COVID-19 pandemic situation, scientists seem to be fairly confident a reliable vaccine will be available sometime next year. It’s truly amazing how far we’ve come so quickly.

So today I am giving huge gratitudes for all of the medical advancements that keep me and my fellow spoonies going – and for those that will bring a halt to the spread of this awful virus.

How lucky we are to be alive right now.

Be well, everybody. Take care of yourselves and each other.

Grace and Blessings.