Rivera Runs Through It: The Blog

 Rivera Runs Through It: Defined

This blog is a documentation of my curiosities. Blogging, creative writing, reading, raising awareness about various topics and engaging in discussions with the people of the World Wide Web are just some of the things that this Rivera runs through on Rivera Runs Through It.

Rivera: Identified

The Rivera that takes you on this tour, is me, Nicole Rivera, former NYC public high school mathematics teacher now at home due to a rare disease called Intracranial Hypertension. I'm a 30-something wondering what comes next, working toward having a family, normal health and desperately trying to figure out how the heck to be an organized stay-at-home. In the meantime I try to spread whatever joy and learning I find through my position here as webmaster and author of the Rivera Runs Through It Blog!

Rivera Runs Through It: The Creation Story

On Valentine's Day 2011 I decided it was high time that I liberated myself and my writing, following an inkling of an idea that I had more to share than just the food news I shared on my foodie blog, Searching for Sustenance. I wanted to share what I learned about blogging,  other cool blogs and  books I was reading, movies I was watching and I wanted to write creatively - none of these things could happen on my old blog, so, after months and months of wavering, I started Rivera Runs Through It!

Rivera Runs Through It: Why You'll LOVE It

• Blogging Tips - Whether I'm sharing things learned from an online learning experience, a blogging convention, an epiphany from one of my own mistakes or sharing fellow bloggers' from one of my communities, I'm here to give you a point in the right direction in your own bloggy life!
• Creative Writing & Discussion - Every Tuesday Rivera Runs Through It provides you with a "What If" Question for you to ponder and engage with others in all types of discussions ranging from serious, to curious to silly. In addition, Rivera Runs Through It participates in all types of writing prompts, shares those with you as well as other writing-related events going on all around the Internet!
• Entertainment & Reviews - Looking for a good read? Then perhaps you should check out The Reading Journals, or one of my monthly run-downs. There are also monthly run-downs of movies, if that's your thing.
• The Fanaticism  - I happen to be a super fan of a couple of things, that I should inform you about right now. If you are too, then you will LOVE this. I love my converse sneakers, I love Harry Potter, Mathematics, teaching and can't wait for this year's NY Comic Con! When I find things that I love, I feel the need to share them with the world - I want to spread the HAPPY! (So look out when the Muppets come back to theaters this November!!)

So now that you've had a bit of an introduction to Rivera Runs Through It, please introduce yourself in the comment section below! What brings you here? Do you have a blog of your own? What topic(s) would you like to see addressed on Rivera Runs Through It as we move forward?

What If #6

This post is an invitation to you to think about the word in the middle of life: IF (L-IF-E). Each week the Rivera Runs Through It blog will present a different "What If...?" question for you to explore. Some will be serious, some will be silly, some might be political, religious or historical.

You can either write a response of your own, or just tune in to see what everyone else has to say about it. At the bottom of this post will be a place for you to link up your own post about the question, so feel free to share. If you have arrived at this post and the inlinkz tool is closed, or you don't have a blog, then please leave your response (or link) in the comment section below using DISQUS.

Happy pondering to everyone...
It is back to school time here in New York City, so we need a back-to-school What If!

What IF #6:

What if students were paid to go to school?

Some people pay to go to school, but what if we flipped it around the other way? What if students were paid to go to school? What if you were? Is there a particular grade or subject that you think that would have made sense for? Do you think this idea is ridiculous all together? Should students be paid based on merit (in other words, only get paid if they attain a certain grade or level of achievement).

What kind of culture do you think would be created by paying students? What are the benefits of such a move? What are the drawbacks?

There's tons to think about with this topic, so pick a direction, and go for it! Let us know what you think! Link up below, or comment below!

For a list of all of the What if questions asked so far, 

see The What If Prompts

It's Time to Learn About Intracranial Hypertension

It may come as no surprise to you that I have Intracranial Hypertension (IH), as I have proudly posted my picture on Facebook as one of the many faces of this disease, however, some of you may still be wondering what the heck IH is! Which is more than understandable as I (and some of the other doctors in the hospital trying to figure me out) only came to learn of it as the diagnosis was read!

IH Is A Rare Disease
 
Intracranial Hypertension is a rare disease.

A disease or disorder is defined as rare in Europe when it affects less than 1 in 2000.

A disease or disorder is defined as rare in the USA if it affects fewer than 200,000 Americans at any given time.

source: http://www.rarediseaseday.org/article/what-is-a-rare-disease

This is a significant piece of information because rare diseases, for obvious reasons, do not receive the same kind of attention and, more importantly, research funding as more recognizable ones. This leaves patients with limited treatment options and knowledgeable professionals to help in their time(s) of need.

IH is Life-Altering

As most chronic diseases, Intracranial Hypertension is an everyday presence in each patient's life. The symptoms include:

• severe headaches and pain, in general, 
• tinnitus, 
• nausea and vomiting, 
• disorientation, 
• dizziness, 
• pins and needles (more like invisible evil elves stabbing me with knives, but, in general, you get the idea), and 
• visual disturbances (black outs, sparks, double-vision, visual auras, etc). 

 The final symptom is the most frightening, because, if left untreated, this disease can lead to blindness due to optic nerve swelling and damage.
The problem with all of these symptoms is that every single one is invisible. I have to be honest, before I was hospitalized and diagnosed I was getting pretty worried that I was losing my mind! I looked fine to everyone else (until I started grimacing from pain or squinting from vision) and felt worse than I ever had in my whole life. This is a common complaint I hear from fellow IH-ers, as well. Even now, everyone I see can't wait to tell me how amazing I look and I'm sure, to many, it is a sign that I must be so much better, but this disease is tricky, invisible, painful and extremely lonely. We look like we can do all of the things we always could do before, but sometimes that pain is just there. Life has changed, we must adapt. We'll do things, just do them differently. IH-ers better than me have continued in their day-to-day with amazing adaption (I did that for too long with my crazy spastic colon - once IH got added to the mix, my days of deception were over!).


The Cause(s) of IH

Intracranial Hypertension is an increase in pressure in your head due to CSF (cerebral spinal fluid). You see, everyone has CSF flowing in and out of their heads all day long - it's a natural body process. Those of us with IH either make too much CSF or our body just doesn't get rid of it fast enough! The jury seems to be out on which one of those it is. Either way, it leads to all of this fluid in your head, squishing up everything because it doesn't seem to know where to go! I have what is called Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension, where "idiopathic" stands for unknown origin. Some people can get Secondary Intracranial Hypertension as a result of a number of different conditions or diseases.

I think it is very important to note that IH can happen to anyone. While there is a prevalence in overweight woman of childbearing age, I am heartbroken to inform you that there has been findings in children (I really, really, really don't like that idea AT ALL), women of all shapes and sizes and even men! I worry that the idea that it is only prevalent in one particular group leads to many going undiagnosed for far too long!


IH NEEDS YOU!

My ultimate reason for writing this post today is to spread the word about Intracranial Hypertension. The IH community needs everyone to know a little bit more about our disease and to get some buzz going. Right now the treatments for the disease lead to more side effects that still make day-to-day existence not so bearable.

Here are some suggestions for what you can do for IH this month (did I mention September is IH AWARENESS MONTH?!):

• Donate to IHRF - The Intracranial Reseach Founation is the only non-profit in the world devoted to supporting medical research for chronic Intracranial Hypertension (in other words, THEY ROCK!!).
• Check out the IHRF Facebook page to see the wall of faces of IH, just to get a feel for how many people can be affected by a "rare" disease.
• Read a Book Where the Lead Character has IH - I truly can't say enough about "Excuse Me, My Brains Have Stepped Out" by Pandora Poikilos, but go ahead and follow the link if you want to read my review!

To My Fellow IH-ers

I wish you pain-free days, and if you are new to this mysterious club and stumbled upon this post on your quest to find answers, please do not hesitate to e-mail me with your questions. I remember the initial months of my quest for answers, for anyone in the world to know what I was going through. We out here, all over the place! YOU. ARE. NOT. ALONE.
 

Related Posts:
Think IH on Rare Disease Day
A World Without Books 
Sick Days
 

Are You Ready for Pottermore?

Whether you are a Pottermore Beta tester awaiting your e-mail, or, like the rest of the world, just waiting for the wide release in October - I'd like to share some [NON SPOILER] tips with you for this fantastic journey of fun!

1. Get your Harry Potter books and reading glasses ready. I have tried it both ways - reading along as I go through Pottermore and not reading just to get through more quickly and I must say that reading along makes for a much richer experience. This is a an experience designed around these seven books, so it makes sense to bring them along for the ride!
2. Once they start getting them, jot down your friends' Pottermore user names. My user name is PumpkinElm207. Look me up when you get to Pottermore, let's be friends! Either email me your name or put it in the comments below!
3. Take your time and ask others to not reveal any *spoilers* to you. It's difficult when everyone is so excited about what they are finding all over Pottermore, but I do believe this should be your experience as well. Rather than searching online to find out all of the different things that JK Rowling wrote on the site, wait until you get there and discover it for yourself. It is such a wonderful surprise when you stumble upon one of her fabulous story snippets!
4. Keep in mind that for many readers of our future, Harry Potter may be first read using Pottermore. In other words, gauge your expectations based on where you are in the story. Many comments on the site have been asking for much more of the story to be revealed all the way at the beginning of the journey. Please remember while you are on Pottermore that some people there (I know this may be hard for you to believe) may not have read all (or any of the Harry Potter books!).

Photo from geeksaresexy.net

I think that's all I can say at this time without revealing too much of what's going on in Pottermore itself. Having spent only four days there myself so far, I must say I am in book love all over again with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Philosopher's Stone) and can't believe again how amazing JK Rowling is. This project is an amazing experience for all Harry Potter fans, but I think, also, all readers and writers to see how we can continue to engage in a reading long after it seems the story has ended.


So I'd like to give a huge "Thank You!" shout out to JK Rowling and the whole Pottermore staff for such a great experience so far!

Are you in Pottermore , or waiting for an e-mail?

Have you decided to wait for October?

How do you feel about the potential of Harry Potter being introduced to many readers alongside the Pottermore experience? Do you think they should read first without it, or use them hand in hand?

UPDATE: 

HERE IS A LINK FOR A POTTERMORE FORUM WITH FANS GATHERING TO ASK/ANSWER QUESTIONS ABOUT POTTERMORE! **TREAD CAREFULLY THERE WILL BE SPOILERS HERE!!**

My Electric Addiction

This post is written as part of the What IF? Project hosted here on the Rivera Runs Through It Blog. Each week a new "What if?" question is presented and I do my best to respond to the query.  You are invited to as well. This week's "What if?" was

What if we lost electricity forever?

Earlier this year I decided to participate in Earth Hour by shutting off all lights, televisions, computers and any other electronic devices for one hour along with thousands of others around the world. It was an amazing experience for my husband and I. I am grateful I did it. By the end of the night I had a ton of questions relating to my own (and society's) addiction to electricity.

Time has passed, the summer came along and with it came lots of trips to the movies, the air conditioning going on, staying up extremely late during summer vacation and blogging, writing and computing like mad. In short, electricity has become an even greater part of my existence in these last couple of months. Then last weekend, I was reminded of my thoughts in March when Hurricane Irene came barreling toward my home threatening to take all of my power with her. All types of preparations went into action:

•  extra ice was made so the freezer could be packed tightly and left closed tight
• candles were gathered on the dining room table along with all the matches we owned
• cell phones were charged to their fullest and arrangements were made with family as to how we would communicate if power went down
• hard drives were backed up

At first, it felt like a bit of a panic. My conversations about the great threat of this Hurricane came down to one worry uttered over and over, "I just really don't want to lose the power... I don't know what we would do." And then I heard myself saying those words and I thought, "How ridiculous!" There was a time in my life when a blackout was the greatest fun ever to be imagined! How did I suddenly become this person. 

I decided it was time to reevaluate my thinking. I remembered that in my long list of "What if" questions I had one about losing electricity. I thought it was time for me to really think about that question and answer it. Here's what I came up with:

Note: in the first frame, Buffy is rubbing in the grass - not dead!

So I was back to the core of the matter. Life without electricity does have the potential for some really great stuff. To be completely honest, I think the greatest loss I would feel if I lost power would be the loss of the connection with the people I have met through blogging. Beyond that, I think I'd sleep a heck of a lot better (and more), I'd still be writing (just with paper and pen) and I think the world might slow down a little bit (which is something I'd love! I can't seem to keep up anymore!). I also don't think I'd be the only one that would be happier if we all lost electricity for awhile. If you haven't read it yet, take a moment now to check out Brenna's post from Almost All the Truth entitled "Is electricity natural?" just to see how harmful of electricity usage actually is!

We here in the Rivera household have been long confused by the fact that solar and wind technologies are not used for generating electricity and hope to, someday, be one of the first houses in our neighborhood to employ one or both of these technologies. However, in the meantime, we must be more vigilant in our usage and reduce our electricity consumption!

Do you use wind or solar power in your home? If so, how did the transition go for you?

What are some tips you have for reducing electricity usage?

What would be the greatest thing you would miss if you lost electricity forever?