Baldies' Blog began originally in the UK by a 26 year old journalist with a blood cancer on a mission to inform the world about bone marrow donation.

He has since died, and I took on the cause of making cancer care more transparent for everybody.

Cancer is a disease that will touch everybody through diagnosis or affiliation: 1 in 2 men will be diagnosed and 1 in 3 woman will hear those words, "You Have Cancer."

I invite you to read how I feel along my journey and
how I am continuing to live a full life alongside my Hodgkin's lymphoma, with me controlling my cancer, not my cancer controlling me.

I hope that "Baldies' Blog" will prepare you to handle whatever life sends you, but especially if it's the message, "You Have Cancer."

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Sunday, December 7, 2008

I'm dyslexic

I’m dyslexic.
This means I jumbled words, I saw things differently or backwards.
Ultimately, I had trouble reading and writing.
I don’t anymore. I compensated.
If any of you wonder why I have the memory I do and carry around all the information I have, it’s because my memory compensated for what I couldn’t do.
Heather could read, so she would read to me, and I would memorize.
Except, I did not memorize when I was supposed to turn the pages. Oops.
That’s where the memory comes from, an inability to read.
It’s not so much of a problem now, if you couldn’t tell.
But that’s why I memorize my patient’s labs. I couldn’t trust myself to read them properly.
I’d compensate by putting the labs in the exact same place every day where they could be expected and found.
I make processes to compensate for all my disabilities or differences until nobody can tell.
For my memory loss, I put everything in the same place everytime or else I won’t find them again. I used to run around screaming like a crazy woman that some one had taken whatever.
For my fatigue, I set up everything I may need in one 3 ft. radius.
My dyslexia is why I’d rather sleep through any traditional class.
I get frustrated and angry because I can’t learn like everybody else.
I need to see and touch and memorize. I need stories and theory. I need anything that can catch my interest. All I need is 5 minutes to see it by myself and ASSOCIATE the idea with something else. Then I’m good.
For example, I can’t just see one after another after another telemetry strip (heart rhythms that tell an action) and sit and know them.
I’ll throw a fit and get a migraine.
I need to know what caused it and why. I need to know the type of person who may present with the rhythm. Then I can read the strip. After I’ve read it, I need to know how to fix it. Then I need to know how to keep it fixed.
I’m a big picture person.
My ideas can’t fit in a box. I don’t think I could fit in the box if I tried.
The world needs a different educational method for people like us.
Our arbitrary age guidelines effect this aspect of learning. Recently, two economists analyzed TIMMS testing scores among fourth graders. They found the oldest scored between four & 12 percentile points higher.
In summary, two intellectually equivalent fourth graders with birthdays at the opposite ends of the year, the older could score in the 80%, while the younger could score 68% percentile. That’s the difference between admittance into a gifted program.
It’s the same in sports, ability grouping starts in early childhood.
I’ll take some blame for this one. I coached when Xander at four so he could get in soccer early. We’ll do the same with basketball. He’s big and he can handle it. We’re also doing this with our neice. She’ll be playing with the boys. She is nine and larger than I am. We want her challenged.
What about the other side, Einstein was dyslexic.
He was probably condemned in school for being lazy and inattentive before creating his theories.
He probably had teachers who accused him of stealing ideas.

2 comments:

emjay. said...

Who wants to fit inside the box anyways?

I want to homeschool the boys when they're ready so they don't ever, ever feel like they're not measuring up to anything.

Chris Lim said...

I ran across your blog on and wanted to thank you for your insight! We've been helping people with dyslexia since 2001. You're great! You can find us at www.accommodationsfordyslexia.com