Groovy Gma with FND

Unfiltered thoughts from a woman who's seen too much, hurts too often, and still finds a way to keep going.

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I’m Ivy-a groovy grandma navigating life with Functional Neurological Disorder, chronic, pain, mental health issues, and a whole lot of grit. I live in the middle of the United States, surrounded by grandkid giggles, cats with big personalities, and late-night thoughts that turn into blog posts. Writing helps me makes sense of the chaos-it’s my way of turning pain into perspective, frustration into laughter, and sleepless nights into something that might make someone else feel a little less alone.

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  • A Lot of Shit for a Little Kid

    No one should have gone through the number of traumas I’ve been through…in my first ten years of life. The trauma counter continued to click off as I lived my life, but I’m going to focus on the first ten-ish years first. I have a feeling that this is where the FND is coming from.…

  • The Day My Fob Betrayed Me

    I live in a brand-new apartment complex that has secure doors to the buildings, and all unit entries are indoors. You can use either a fob that is issued at move-in, or a code is assigned to your unit. I provide the code to Amazon, UPS, FedEx, etc. so they have access to my building…

  • Do You Smell What I Smell?

    I have a little female cat named Sammie. She’s a black and brown shorthaired tabby, tiny girl, very sweet. I got her when I was living at my old apartment; it had carpet which smelled like cat pee when I moved in March 2021, and Sammie moved in 2024. She immediately started peeing on the…

  • Notes from a Groovy Gma: Cannabis Edition

    I have used cannabis for a VERY long time; I had my first real hit of a burning joint in 1993, after meeting the man that would become my husband. He was a AMS2 and Drug Counselor at North Island when I was transferred from boot camp to Hospital Corpsman A school in San Diego.…

  • Young, Dumb and ‘In Love’: The Story of Us

    I finished Navy boot camp just before New Years in 1992. I opted for the two weeks of leave after boot camp, with only a one-week reduction in accumulation if we put in four hours at the recruiter’s office each day x 5 days. I was happy to do that. I was VERY proud of…

  • When family is untreated

    My now exhusband and I both have bipolar disorder; I have type One, I haven’t spoken to him in almost five years and have no idea where he is at in his mental health battle. I am the mom to two chilldren with him, Jane is about to be 32 and Tom is 28. As…

  • cat screams and headlights at 3am

    I live in a brand-new apartment complex and right next-door is a construction site. On Friday the semis started arriving at about 4 AM. This morning, Tuesday, they started arriving before 3 AM. The LED headlights are flashing in my bedroom window at about the same time that my cat Frank decides to start tormenting…

  • Veterans Day

    I am a veteran and now that I’m single, I like to go out and take advantage of a free lunch or two. My anxiety/PTSD keeps me home if Veterans Day is on the weekend, because I know there’s going to be a million ppl out. Weekday lunches are so much better because so many…

  • Hello World!

    Welcome to WordPress! This is your first post. Edit or delete it to take the first step in your blogging journey.

  • My gnocchi smelled like cat pee

    I’m a daughter, a sister, an ex-wife, a mom, a grandma, a veteran, a retired medical assistant, among other things. The main thing I’m going to focus on is the Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) and how it effects my life. I was diagnosed in March 2025 by an internal medicine physician while I was inpatient…