When Life Hands Ya Lemons…

John Lennon once said, “life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans…” and I never understood what that meant until I was sucked into the most recent whirlwind of poo covered tornado that has come into my life.

Buckle up friends, it’s a wild wild ride.

I have finally learned what it is like to feel like Bifford (the constantly drunk looking, woozy feeling) –well, sort of – and I thought I had my fair share of gnarly neurologic episodes of my years dabbling with epilepsy (totally the universe’s gift of course) but boy was I far from wrong as the universe proudly announces to hold their beer while they razzle dazzle my paperweight of a brain with more shenanigans.

Last year I got COVID-19 and though my symptoms were mild (thanks to the vaccine, wearing my mask and washing my hands) I had no idea what the lasting effects would be but I was soon to find out one of them: Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) which commonly happens after viral illnesses and usually affects women between 13-50 (lucky us right ladies?). Basically, it is a blood flow issue where you can feel extremely lightheaded, faint, nauseous, diarrhea and much more fun exciting things. The absolute kick in the shin? There really is no absolute cut and dry treatment plan (when is there ever?) but essentially with diet changes, lifestyle changes and more there is hope the symptoms lessen over time though it is something that could last anywhere from a few months to a lifetime.

So awesome.

On top of being epileptic and having a plethora of mental illnesses (again, don’t we all in one way or another?) I was gifted with this too. Meh it is another hurdle in this crazy chaos we call life and what else can I do then roll with the punches?

Anyway, enough of the plight that is my neurologic health there are exciting things on the horizon for the Misfit’s Campaign!

–              Our carrier tags are improving! It is so cool to have all you friends on this journey with us (I am sure a lot of you remember the very early on, rudimentary carrier tags and have watched them progress to what they are today) so now we are diving into this technological world – sublimation printing. Essentially sublimation printing is baking ink onto a surface making it hardier and more durable (which is exactly what we want in a carrier tag!) and will come in an array of colors, designs and handicapable abilities. Tentatively we are hoping to launch these bad boys by the end of November/early December 2022! We are still going to provide them free to those who apply for one (of course you can receive more for just the cost of postage).

–              Though our main goal is cerebellar hypoplasia awareness we realized that when we adopted Maxwell that other adorable misfits needed someone to be their voice, for those misunderstood – so we are branching out to adorable misfits of all walks of life. This means that in addition to seeing Bart, Bifford & Maxwell you will see guest appearances from Lucipurr (who is behaviorally challenged) and Bessie (who is vertically challenged) as well as from fellow handicapable friends and their parents. The whole idea for us here is to show the world that “hey! We are all a little messed up in our own special ways, but we are rockin’ it!”

–              Constantly updating our Misfit’s map! Not only will it include handicapable cool veterinarians but will be branching out to include misfit cool rescues, organizations, friends – because it is all about helping one another for the greater good of these adorable misfits, am I right?

Between the new chaos and the usual chaos, I have to say that I am utterly exhausted but thankful for each and everyday!

Friends, I must thank you all because I haven’t been tending to the campaign like I would want to. Sure, that means that messages don’t get replied to as quickly, tags may not go out as fast and some of the content may be recycled (more than once), if you are following us on Instagram (@PresidentBifford) & TikTok (#Presidentbifford) then you will see that there has been mountains to climb in our personal, professional, emotional and mental lives and we are working ever so diligently to process all of this in order to better continue to work on what is so near to our hearts: misfits.