Lisa Rossignol

              The date: November 4 is not a birthday or a holiday. November 4, 2007 was the day my then six-month-old daughter Lily was diagnosed with Prenatal Stroke, Cortical Visual Impairment, left-sided hemiparesis, and Infantile Spasms. That cool evening, the hospital doctor on duty had the formidable task of wheeling in a laptop computer to show my eager family the MRI scan that showed the exact extent of what we were facing. Right there, a giant grapefruit sized whole where my baby’s right parietal and temporal lobes should have been. That was the day when the bottom fell out for my husband and I. That was four years ago.                There would be other days like April 14, 2008- the day Lily had what was left of the right half of her brain removed and became seizure free, and December 22, 2009 when three year old Lily took her first steps...

When my daughter Lily became critically ill at 6 months old I had no idea how much help I was going to need. People would say things like "If you need anything let us know" over and over again. I would thank them for their kindness but didn't really ask for help. The problem was twofold. First, I didn't know what I needed. All I knew was my baby was really sick and I didn't want to lose her. I had grown accustom, in this life, to working hard for what I needed and wanted and relied very little on the kindness of others. Second, I didn't know how to ask because of that pride and inexperience with being vulnerable to ask for help. So, here I am attempting to compile a list of things that some people did that were amazing and some ideas that we wish we could have had offered or would have been able to ask for. 1. MONEY : Yes, of course we needed money. In addition to racking up a $4,000 bill the first week of Lily's illness, my husband and I also missed ni...

So, this weeks large harvest box from Skargard Farms (http://www.skarsgardfarms.com) included an obscene amount of zucchini. That is a vegetable that I always think I like but have yet to find a recipe I really like aside from zucchini bread. I have grilled it and roasted it and sauteed it to no avail. This summer I heard a friend talking about making crab cakes with zucchini so I searched the web for recipes and found this well designed recipe: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=318497693385 The only problem was, I didn't have any of the main ingredients! All I had was zucchini. So here is my modified version of this recipe that turned out delicious but more like felafel then latkes. 3 zucchini shredded 1/2 leak shredded 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped 1/2 tablespoon cumin 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1 can of cannelloni beans rinsed 1/2 cup bread crumbs 1/2 cup flour Shred zucchini into a strainer, salt and let sit for 15 minutes. Squeeze out water, toss and let sit f...

Every year for the past 17 years thousands of Albuquerque residents filed into the South Valley to stand knee high in muddy water and play volleyball. Teams come dressed in themes and there is a contest for 'Best Camp', 'Best Costumes', 'Best Fundraising', and of course 'Mudd Volleyball Champion'. All of the proceeds go to benefit the Carrie Tingley Hospital Foundation. I worked for a company a few years ago that was a sponsor so we had the VIP tent and everything was taken care of. All I had to do was show up and play. It was amazingly fun.    This was our first complete Mudd Volleyball experience. My husband and I had decided to buy a team because the registration is 100% tax deductible and as small business owners we had to increase our charitable giving for the tax incentive. The reason we chose this charity is for the fact that a few months prior, by the recommendation of our 4 year old's physical therapist, the Carrie Tingley Hospital Fo...

"Hello?" "Yes, is this Lily's Mom?" "Yes." "This is Maybeth from the School for the Blind. Lily is okay. We just wanted to let you know that during her music class, Lily was playing the auto harp- high energy as usual-and then she stopped suddenly. The left side of her body went flaccid and she stared into space for 3-4 seconds. We think she may have had a seizure." "How is she now?" "She seemed to come right back out of it but just wanted to let you know so you can be informed." "Thanks." And that is how this average day turned into my worst nightmare. When Lily was about two months old, I started to notice that when she would wake from naps, her eyes would roll up and then to the left, over and over again. The first time I saw it, I started to cry, I thought I was going to vomit, and I cried out "Oh, God what is happening?" My husband assured me that it was probably okay. For the next four m...

So, I have decided to join the band wagon and get my own blog instead of hijacking my daughter's caringbridge page. I hope to use this to do a couple of things (be ready for lists because I love them): I am hoping to run for public office in 2013 so I hope to use this blog to talk about that process and as part of my campaign-more info on that in a few weeks I want a place where I can talk, at length if I need to, about what it is like to be the mother of a child that had a catastrophic illness (intractable epilepsy and Infantile Spasms), her hemisperectomy (Dr.s at the Cleveland Clinic removed the right half of her brain when she was 10 months old), and her daily rehabilitation and challenges. I also have another daughter and who is neurotypical but is posing her own set of challenges for me and I would like to tell you about that. As a new convert to a mostly plant based, organic diet, I spend a good part of each day digging through the interwebs for recipes to cook with the...