An Experimental Life

Although none has been demanded, I feel that I owe you, our fans and friends, an explanation for our lengthy (and unplanned) hiatus, and to reassure you that we'll be back soon. I'm not giving a specific date, and after reading the following I think you'll understand why.

To be as brief as possible, I'm not going into too much detail or reiterating what is already public knowledge, and just cover the couple of recent things.

Many of you already know that I have bipolar disorder. I'm pretty open about being bipolar, in large part because I feel that hiding mental illness or acting embarrassed about it only reinforces stigmas associated with it. I am on a wonderful medication called Lamictal, with which I have suffered absolutely no side-effects whatsoever. At some point during our move, though, my medication got lost. I had some set aside to keep with me during the move, but the bulk of it went bye-bye, and it took me a couple of weeks to get it replaced.

When stopping most bipolar medications (including Lamictal my medication), especially suddenly, a major bad episode is nearly inevitable. When stopping Lamictal for even a few days, you have to ramp back up to the full dose very slowly. This being the case, I have been fairly non-functional for a few weeks even after getting a new supply, and it will be a few more weeks before I am back up to my full dose.

Thanks to those who called or emailed to check in on us. Sorry I haven't gotten back to everyone. And Mitch, I'm sorry I didn't recognize your voice at first. I plead sleepiness and fever from that nasty little respiratory infection that Shannon brought home from work for me. For some reason I thought you said "Rich," at first, and that confused me.

Anyway, doing better, on the way to being well, and hope to see you all back here soon.

Love and kisses,
-Rob