Sickness Behaviour: The Many Causes of Fatigue with Chronic Illness
Wrung-out dishcloth. Someone unplugged my power cord. Death warmed over. All of these (and more) have been used to describe the fatigue associated with active RA and other types of chronic illness. And all of them have applied to me lately. Which explains why you haven’t seen much of me. I have fond memories of…
Don’t Suffer in Silence: Why Talking About Pain is Good for You
Do you talk about your pain or do you keep it to yourself? so many people who live with chronic pain due the latter. And it’s not always a good idea. In my new post for Mango Health, I write about why talking about your pain can be good for you: “It’s not considered polite…
When RA Interrupts a Pro Baseball Career
Emil deAndreis had just signed his first pro contract as a baseball player when rheumatoid arthritis went nuts in his body. His new book is a memoir of his life with baseball (an excellent book, by the way). I interviewed him for HealthCentral: “”Almost everything good that has happened to me has its roots in…
TV Review: Life Below Zero
There are times when I dream of living in a cabin in the woods, far from away from civilization and the noise (and okay, people). Waking up to fresh air, birdsong, and the wind in the pines would be my idea of heaven. And then there’s reality. For the past week, I have been obsessively…
Opposing Prayer in Public School is Not Racist
How’s that for a click-bait title? As I was having my breakfast this morning, I read an article in the Toronto Star called Moving from Religious Accommodation to Religious Acceptance. The topic itself is something that interests me, and I thought there might also be some good points that I could use for a post…
What People with RA Want You to Know
Living with RA can be really hard and I’m not talking about the pain and fatigue. The reactions from people you meet and the lack of knowledge can create some truly unique situations. For my new HealthCentral slideshow, I asked the RA community what they most wanted others to know: “Living with rheumatoid arthritis (RA)…
One Year Later
I’m so glad to be here. I wanted to write something for today. One year ago, on March 30, 2016, things went south after I was extubated, I flatlined, but through some highly skilled intervention, I survived. That is one hell of a miraculous gift. Although I am normally full of words about the experience,…
The Heartbreak of Missing Out Because of Chronic Illness
There are blank spaces in my life when I had to disappear because my RA flared and I only had enough energy to get through each day. In my new post for HealthCentral, I share what it’s like to miss out because of chronic illness: >”There are many different ways of getting there, but the…
Finding Hope in a Life of Chronic Illness
There are times where it can be a struggle to find hope when you with a chronic illness. In my new post for Mango Health, I share building blocks to nurturing a sense of hope:“Hope is the thing with feathersThat perches in the soul,And sings the tune without the words,And never stops at all”– Emily…
Walking in A Cloud
It was a fairly dismal March day — cloudy, with tiny pellets of snow pelting my face as we walked west. We were in need of adventure, but uncertain what kind, so decided to pick a direction and see what happened. Union Station loomed ahead and since neither The Boy or I could remember when…
Setting Boundaries in Health Care
Do you know what you’d do if faced with an angry doctor or a nurse who repeatedly couldn’t find a vein? My new post for HealthCentral looks at setting boundariesin health care situations. “We all have a sense of boundaries on what we will accept, and what we can do and say to each other….
How to Get Past Writer’s Block
Some people claim there is no such thing as writer’s block. That all you have to do is sit down and keep writing and that claiming you’re blocked as just procrastination or avoidance. I beg to differ. Sometimes, it seems as if the writing part of your brain is hibernating. Writer’s block is a…