Blog Articles by Month: September 2016

Photo Friday: Watchers

Today is the last day of #RABlog Week. Things have been crazy busy, so I haven’t been able to do another post. I recommend you hop on over to the event page on Rick’s website to check out the many amazing submissions. I certainly plan to do this over the next few days.

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Back to Work with Chronic Illness

Years ago, I was away from the job market for 10 years. A change in government meant I lost the job I had and it was very hard to find something else. After the big flare, my body prevented me from finding something else. And then I found something that was perfect for me, both…

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#RABlog Week, Day 3: In Defense of Biologics

Today’s #RABlog Week prompt is Biologics can be scary. This is true and it has led to a lot of misperceptions about these kinds of medications. My goal today is to bust some myths about Biologics. Settle in with a cup of tea. To do this subject justice, I had to go a bit long….

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#RABlog Week Day 1: Starting over

This week, I’ll be participating in RABlog Week, posting on particular prompts that were decided by a community survey. Learn more about RABlog Week and how you can participate. You can also follow the #RABlog Week hashtag on Twitter. This year is my 50thanniversary of living with RA. Well, technically juvenile idiopathic arthritis, but my…

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Disclosing Chronic Illness at Your Workplace

One of the benefits of RA increasingly being an invisible illness is that you have a choice about whether you want your employer and colleagues to know about it. Sometimes, it’s necessary, though. In my new post for HealthCentral, I take a look at the issues around disclosure: “You’ve just gotten a diagnosis of a…

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Photo Friday: Bullethole

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Shortcuts, Traveling, and Loss

Alcatraz, 1992 At some point in the ICU, I had a transcendent experience. Buzzing with excitement, I waited for The Boy to arrive for his daily visit and then told him all about it. That as soon as I was better, the first major adventure we were going to have was to go to Giraffe…

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Dealing with Side Effects and Workplace Accommodations

That’s a bit of a weird combo, huh? It’s been a busy months, so I thought I’d lump together my last two posts for HealthCentral. The first is about the emotional impact of having side effects from RA meds: “When our doctors talk about starting another drug for our rheumatoid arthritis (RA), one of the…

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Photo Friday: Sugar Freighter

Sugar Beach is a working beach. It’s right next to the Redpath sugar factory, where they transform raw sugar into the refined stuff. And if you get there at just the right time, you can see the freighters coming in, loaded with Caribbean sugar and ready to unload.

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Please Endorse Me in the Wegohealth Health Activists Awards!

I’m honoured that members of the community nominated me in the 5th Annual WEGOHealth Health Activist Awards. Being nominated for any award is always special, but when it’s your peeps who do so, it means that much more. I’m nominated in two categories: Health Activist Hero and, believe it or not, Lifetime Achievement. That last…

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New Creaky and Tipsy Collection Raises Awareness about Arthritis

I love my job for very many reasons. One of them is that I get to interview a lot of interesting people. The latest is Michael Kuleva, the man behind the fashion label Tumbler and Tipsy. His new Spring/Summer 2017 collection is entitled Creaky and Tipsy and raises awareness about arthritis. You see, Michael has…

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Don’t Sleep Your Life Away with Chronic Fatigue

Well, hello brainfog! It’s sort of ironic that a post about being tired was published just of the time when I was pretty tired and subsequently pretty forgetful. Because I forgot to post it here! Anyway! Say hello to my post about chronic fatigue for Mango Health in August. A bit late: “Ah, fatigue. My…

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