Fibro Fog: Fear of Frying

Rough week on the fibro front, thanks to a potent combination of goofy barometric pressure changes, finishing up (but not really) a book project, and having my house invaded by an energy audit team with a caulking guns.

No shortage of "am I going up the stairs or down the stairs?" moments. Not like that's anything new.

Even without a lot of disruption I can descend into periods of fibro fog. Under the best of circumstances this feels like fuzzy-headed, galaxy-disappearing periods of blur; panic-inducing moments of complete amnesia under the worst. And yes, it's connected with fibro, hence the awesomely alliterative term, "fibro fog."

Like other people with fibro, I have a bunch of amusing stories about putting refrigerator items in cupboards and cupboard items into the laundry and all that. I have significantly less amusing and downright dangerous stories about the stove.

For two years I lived in an apartment with an electric stove. As a cook, I hated it. My joy at once again having a gas stove in my new home quickly faded as I realized that forgetting to turn off gas burners is exponentially more dangerous than leaving on an electric stove top.

This tasteful label may have to
be much larger at some point.

Yes, I've forgotten to turn off gas burners. I've continued cooking on a second burner while forgetting to turn off the first. I've left the kitchen completely...for hours...returning to discover burners still burning and not even with anything like a pot or pan on them.

After ones of these incidents I managed to snap out of fibro fog long enough to haul out the label maker -- possibly because of the adrenalin rush accompanying that WTF moment. I now have reminders posted on the stove by the burners, as well as at eye level above the stove.

Right now, the label looks like an attractive design feature but I know that at some point I'll need to change the color and size so the label pops up in my consciousness.

The Crown painting by Aron Wiesenfeld

I might also need to post in my kitchen as a cautionary image, a picture of someone wearing a St. Lucia crown. I already keep a fire extinguisher right next to the stove.