The Freedom to Eat
I have a variety of food allergies, some of which require me carrying an EpiPen in case I have an anaphylactic reaction. And it’s had a profound impact on my socializing. I don’t eat out much anymore. There are no ironclad guarantees in a restaurant. They’ll try their best, but until someone opens a nut…
Show Us What Your Hands Can Do!
A Show Us Your Hands! Photo Campaign Building hope, one hand at a time #showusyourhands Help Show Us Your Hands! inspire and unite the inflammatory arthritis community and qualify to win a copy of Your Life with Rheumatoid Arthritis: Tools for Managing Treatment, Side Effects and Pain by Lene Andersen! We need your help! At…
A Very Special Anniversary Gift
Heaven preserve us from really good doctors… What am I going on about, you ask? Isn’t having a good doctor a good thing? Well, most of the time it is. But sometimes meeting a good doctor who doesn’t know you can lead to situations that can best be described as “interesting.” Those of you who’ve…
Coming Far, Going Further
A few weeks ago, The Boy and I decided to take a walk down to the lake. This is not earth shattering news — we do it on a fairly regular basis, what with my Sugar Beach obsession and all. What’s new about this story is that once we got there, I suggested doing something…
Explosions on the Beach
There are three bluewhale carcasses on beaches in Newfoundland and people are worried that they’re going to explode at any minute. I hope someone sets up a WebCam. Every time I see another article or video breathlessly explaining what’s going on inside the whales that makes them expand so and what this means for the…
In Defense of Gene Jones
The City of Toronto ombudsman Fiona Crean has released two reports in two months that are highly critical of the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC — the second-largest social housing provider in North America after New York) and especially critical of the President and CEO, Gene Jones. Jones is an American, known as the social…
Rheumatoid Arthritis Blood Tests – What Do They Mean?
Did you ever wonder about the blood tests for RA? My new post for HealthCentral outlines the most common RA blood tests and what the numbers mean: “RF. ESR. Anti-CCP. ANA. CPR. No, these aren’t codes used by secret agents to communicate their missions. They’re names of blood tests used in diagnosing and managing rheumatoid…
Earning Her Nickname
Today is Lucy’s Gotcha Day. Four years ago, on April 14, she came home and took over my life and I’ve loved every minute. She’s the sweetest cat I’ve ever known – in four years, she has never hissed, never swatted, never nipped. She just puts up with things. Whether it’s nail clippings, having her…
No Spoons. No Writing. No Problem??
I crashed last weekend. Well, to call it simply a crash may be the understatement of the decade. Sure, this had many similarities to what happens when my body finally has had enough of being pushed beyond its limits and makes me sit still (usually while it mutters invectives): the dizzy, the exhausted, the sort…
Expect the Unexpected
Because there’s moisture inside. There’s not supposed to be moisture inside the joystick. There are electronics inside the joystick box, including a circuit board, wires and all sorts of things that you very definitely do not want to get wet. Which is why I put a protective sandwich bag over the joystick whenever I go…
Losing Weight with RA and Chronic Pain
I`ve been feeling pudgy lately. What better way to deal with it than to recruit weightloss buddies on a grand scale? This is my new post for HealthCentral: “How do you lose weight with RA? That’s a good question, one that I’ve been stuck on for a while. These days there’s more of me than…