ABOUT ME

My name is Cassandra.

I am a (current) ginger, a semi-reluctant homemaker, and former co-leader of a nonprofit for abuse survivors. I happen to be a chronic illness and chronic/intractable pain warrior, a.k.a. the Princess Warrior, but more importantly, I am a persistent comedian and a lover of all things bright, shiny, sparkly, and fluffy. I also cry tears of pure joy whenever I watch a particular video of a slow loris eating a rice ball.

I'm a little silly, a lot wordy, and pretty damn smart. I'm a dedicated wife to a slightly strange gamer-man and a fur mama to two slightly dysfunctional kitties, and two beloved, deceased kitties.

Oh, and for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about when I say "slow loris eating a rice ball"… Here you go. You're welcome.

I used to go by "Chick with a Stick", which is in reference to this:

My husband bought me this staff at the Ren Faire up in the big city to help me get around better, since I'd started to have significant problems walking by the time we got married, but didn't want to use a walker on a regular basis. I used the staff almost constantly until my hands really started giving me problems and it hurt too much to use the stick anymore. I still use it from time to time, and it's nice to know that I can beat someone up if need be, though I mostly use my awesome bright red really sexy walker when I leave the house, and sometimes inside the house. 

I rely on walkers and staffs to help me get around because I deal with severe Intractable Pain (similar to but different from chronic pain), severe Ehler's-Danlos and Hypermobility Syndromes, Dysautonomia, Inflammatory Poly-Arthritis, Auto-Immune Hypothyroidism and Adrenal Insufficiency, and a few other things that don't necessarily affect my strength, energy, and ability to move around like the previously listed diseases. I had a misdiagnosis of "just" Fibromyalgia for years before my rapidly increasing pain and symptoms finally led me to the right doctors, who make up part of my awesome medical team. If you want to know anything about my diseases, doctors, diagnoses, or drugs, just ask. I'm a pretty open book… so long as you're not critical of the choices I've made.