In My Chronic Illness, I Found a Deeper Meaning

I became disabled overnight in a car accident.

The car accident was a dream, but the disability was real.

• Elliot Kukla
• The New York Times

I dreamed I was driving through the ravaged streets of Oakland, Calif., at the end of the world.

I turned the corner and careened inescapably into a white chemical blaze.

I woke with a start, the white flash still burning behind my eyes, the worst headache of my life piercing my left temporal lobe.

I remembered my mother having a brain aneurysm years before and knew the “worst headache of my life” was not to be ignored.

My wife and I hurried to the hospital, expecting life to change forever.

Once at the…

• In My Chronic…