My latest ChatGPT query: what are some more creative ways to say, “Well it’s been a while since I last shared an update.” I can’t say that I was particularly inspired by the suggestions I got back, each of which amounted to, "Gee, life got busy, and writing has taken a backseat.”
After a year of writing regularly, I came to realize how beneficial it was for my mental and emotional health. So, it’s frustrating to recognize how easy it has been to deprioritize it during the following year, as other urgencies beckoned.
In that way, writing is maybe not unlike other healthy behaviors. For me, these seem to require the scaffolding of appointments with or commitments to others—a trainer, a therapist, Strive for Five readers—to hold any hope for consistency.
As December started, I had been thinking about this a lot and considering what sort of January reset might make sense: Whole30? Reset66? Another memoir class? Enabling paid Substack subscriptions to commercialize my commitment?
I considered these and additional options, right up until December 14th, when we walked into the Door County Emergency Room facing the possibility that Per, who was experiencing numbness and immobility on the right side of his face, was having a stroke.
Thankfully, that was not the case.
Instead, he walked out 40 minutes later with a Bell’s palsy diagnosis.
Per at diagnosis, during acupuncture, recovering two weeks into the ordeal
Impacting one in 60 people during their lifetime, Bell’s palsy isn’t uncommon. But for Per, whose very psyche seems built on joy and optimism, it was deeply upsetting to have a smile which could only be activated on one side, making it look more like a grimace. He worried about whether his face would betray him on an upcoming shoot, giving unintended negative signals to cast and crew. Concerns about dribbling food or drink were also real, albeit secondary. And a small percentage of people never recover, a scary truth we didn’t much discuss as we joked about holiday pictures.
Instead, we threw ourselves into Googling. Officially, there isn’t much you can do to heal nerve damage but give it time: recovery typically starts in a few weeks and can take 3 to 6 months in total.
Deeper into search results, we also read that acupuncture and an anti-inflammatory diet might help: reducing the inflammation and pressure that might further damage the nerve or impede healing.
Which is why we started our post-holiday anti-inflammatory reset 10 days before Christmas: no alcohol, no dairy, no grains, no processed carbs, nothing processed or deep fried.
It looks a bit like Whole30, with some exceptions made for the purposes of both nutrient diversity and sanity: we made room to include both beans and homemade yogurt; plus, a daily coffee for me, a small, occasional glass of eggnog for Per.
Still, the shock to the system has been significant. It’s illuminating how many of the things for which we regularly reach are not “healthy” by this definition—and this is despite the belief that we are eating “mostly healthy” food. Equally surprising was the glow I thought I saw in the mirror after just one week and what seems like more sustained energy throughout the day.
Most importantly, Per’s smile has started to return.
It’s been motivating enough that we’ve committed to a January of Whole30ish and Cook90ish (making 3 meals a day for 30 of 31 days—required practically by default to successfully adhere to the constraints of Whole30ish).
To keep me on track—and get me back into the habit of writing—I’ll spend the month documenting how it goes on Substack*, including links or recipes that are particularly inspiring. I’ll aim to write once a day (Reset66 calls for one hour per day on a “hobby”), sharing a few times a week.
This endeavor may be especially challenging knowing it will be a busy month: scans in NY mid-month, big news about Working with Cancer in late January (check out our new website here!), and prep for World Cancer Day February 4th. Luckily, I have all the reckless optimism of someone who’s enjoyed a week’s holiday from work about diving into in headfirst.
Maybe most miraculously, more than 3 years after my last (and 37th) round of chemo, I finally feel ready to adjust what I eat without feeling the shadow of chemo-induced food deprivation. I’m excited about what I might learn, and how it might help me eat better longer term.
I feel healthier already.
*Unlike most of my content which I post to both this website and my Substack, January's food-related adventure is happening solely on Substack. So, if you want to follow in real time, you may want to subscribe. I'll also try to update links for those posts occasionally here:
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