Coming up this fall on Only Human...
Jay: Hello? Is this the check in?
We’ve all been here — waiting for a big medical test.
Jay: Hi, I’m Jay Zimmerman. I have an appointment for 3:00.
Jay … is getting his hearing checked.
Receptionist: Okay just have a…
Jay: I’m deaf. I have to lip-read you.
Receptionist: JUST HAVE A SEAT OUTSIDE. WE’LL BE RIGHT WITH YOU.
It’s important, because Jay is a deaf composer. He desperately wants to hear again. And this test might hold the key.
I’m Mary Harris. Only Human is a new podcast from WNYC. It’s about how health shapes our lives.
Bipolar disorder shook Jaime Lowe’s world.
MH: So when did you know or when did your family or friends know that this wasn't just you. This is something bigger?
JL: Well, my apartment burned down.
She’s kept her mania in check with lithium for pretty much her entire adult life.
JL: The thing about mania and depression is that you're there throughout it. You know you're interacting with people and you're not not remembering.
MH: Does it feel like you?
JL: Define you. It feels like a version of me and it's certainly part of me. But it's not the choices I would make, you know, if I were me on lithium.
And then there’s my story.
MH: Leo, so what are we about to do?
Leo: Shave her head.
That’s me, talking to my son, Leo.
MH: Whose head?
Leo: Mommy’s head!
A couple of years back, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.
MH: What do you think it’s going to look like after?
Leo: I don’t know.
MH: How do you feel about it?
Leo: Kind of scared, but – it just has to happen.
Losing my hair was hard. But the worst part of chemo — was that I was also pregnant.
Only Human. Subscribe in iTunes, or at onlyhuman.org
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Every body has a story.
