Jennifer Saake

Are you specifically looking for my stroke story?  If you want to start directly there, jump down about 6 paragraphs. Look for the bolded line about October, 2011, then back up one paragraph for a little more context. I've lived with   myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)  since my teens. I am not cured, but thankfully my illness is (current as of  early 2021)  well-managed with rest, routine, and medication .  Having lived through decades of remissions and relapses, sometimes being so sick that it feels like the act of breathing is more demanding than I can muster, I've spent seasons whimpering in bed without the strength to even roll over.  Even on "good days" ME/CFS is to just "being tired" what a hurricane is to a shower of sprinkles. Think of a time when you had a nasty case of the flu with aches, fatigue so severe you couldn't think straight, system dysregulation like unanticipated blood pressure drops and chills and fevers...

JenniferSaake   spring 2019 I grew up on the mission field, spending 7 years in Japan. (No, I did not learn more than a very few words of the language.) While I moved about 17 times in childhood, most recently I lived in Northern Nevada, 45 minutes from Lake Tahoe, for over two decades. We moved to Arizona in 2019. I can touch my nose with the tip of my tongue and can pick up items with my toes. There were 6  Jennifer s in my first grade class in the the late 1970s. Find out more on the  Saake Pronunciation Guide .                                                                                                    Our journey to parenthood took the long path of infertility, miscarriage, and adoption loss that I've briefly reco...