In her captivating memoir, author Rachel Weaver describes what it’s like to live in “landlocked seasickness” as she did for most of her young-adult life. One part of her tried to maintain a relatively normal life; the other part of her was “crippled by fear in a world I couldn’t control.” Her brain seemed filled with thick fog, and her world felt like a continuous hurricane. Many different treatments were tried so the earth would stop tilting, but nothing worked. She felt “pinned down in sickland.”
For a long time, she consulted with specialist after specialist, and nothing took her disabling dizziness away. She was pushed to the brink after several years of medical consultation with no real relief, going from appointment to appointment and drug to drug. Nothing helped. She tried to escape the harsh reality of her world by losing herself in the fictional world of her writing. She felt she was doomed to nausea and raising her family as a sick and impatient mama forever. She wanted more. Her search for better health became an endless driving force in her life until she finally met people who put her on a path to a “slow fix.”
This book is about resilience and embracing an unknown future one trial and season at a time. There is no Christian perspective mentioned in this account, but the details and the journey are gripping. It is helpful for chronic pain sufferers to know they have company in a world that can feel desperately lonely. Long-term sufferers will find themselves identifying with this author as she copes with living in the midst of multiple different scenarios at the same time. This is not necessarily a fun or easy read, but it is a worthwhile one. (West Virginia University Press)
About the Author
Aime Spriensma