Thoughts on my 18th Blogiversary
The Seated View is old enough to vote. I feel very much like I imagine any parent when their child hits this magic number: proud, a little teary, and consumed with the memories of the past eighteen years. There was the overwhelm of the first month or two when you convince you’re going to drop…
6 Tips for Setting (and Working Towards) Goals Despite the Unpredictability of Chronic Illness
“That’s why you should never make plans,” she said. “You never know what might happen.” I used to be in that place. It’s a place where you are afraid of planning anything, because of the unpredictability of chronic illness. If you never know how you’ll feel tomorrow, even in an hour from now, forcing you…
Life Philosophy on a Mug
I find inspiration in the weirdest places. A display in a card store, an ad on a billboard, the back of a cereal box, books (of course), tattoos, and the list goes on. Images, words, quotes that make me stop and think or lift my spirits. And sometimes, what I see becomes integrated in my…
Courage, They Cried: Life with Chronic Illness
It takes a lot of guts to have a chronic illness. This thought came into my mind as I was preparing for a drug challenge appointment that had the very real possibility of me going into anaphylactic shock.* It’s a fun thing to do on a Wednesday. Granted, this one is a somewhat extreme example…
Homeless Judgement
“Do you have any change for the homeless?” He asked this over and over again, of almost everyone who passed. To a person, they kept walking, only a few acknowledging him, saying sorry, they didn’t have any change. So did I. And we were all lying. Sure, most of us pay for purchases, even small…
Thoughts from a Bonnie Raitt Concert
Bonnie Raitt and I were in the same room on Friday. Along with 3000 other people, but I wasn’t paying much attention to them. As she was singing, a variety of thoughts occurred to me. When live music is actually live I’m a sucker for singer-songwriters. People who have something to say and know music…
12: Blogiversary Thoughts on How We Learn from Each Other
Way back in the beginning of my blogging career, no one told me that I would learn far more than I would teach. Much of blogging — particularly in the beginning — feels a bit one-sided. Someone once told me that with a blog I was “in a position to inform.” This made me feel…
2016: One Hell of a Year
Well, that;s been quite something, hasn’t it? 2016 was a year that had opinions about what should happen, made it so, and many of us didn’t like it. For one, it was, in the words of the Toronto Star, “the year the music died.” David Bowie left us in early January and I’m still not…
High Anxiety and Jumping in the Deep End
“Relax,” he said. “Hi!” I replied. “Have you met me? I am not a relaxed person.” I have lived with anxiety since I was a child. My first memory of being really anxious was the first day of Grade 1. I remember the red dress I was wearing. I remember being one of only two…
3 Months after the ICU: A Surreal Normal
Every time I wash my hands or brush my teeth I see it in my washroom mirror. The line at the base of my throat, a barely-there horizontal divot that is the only visual reminder of my medical adventure. It jolts me every time, bringing back a moment of memory so intense that for a…
Lozenge-Infused Thoughts on the Year that Was
I had a plan. It was a good plan. I was going to take some time off and as we came closer to the 31st, I’d write a thoughtful post about the past year. There was no reason whatsoever that this plan shouldn’t come to fruition. Except for Nemesis, of course. Who, I am quite…
Is the Term Patient Counterproductive in Advocacy?
Updated May 17, 2021 “We need to support the journey from passive patient to patient leader. “ – Annette McKinnon How do you include the voice of people who live with illness — chronic or otherwise (patients) —in the decisions that affect how healthcare is provided? And how do you do that without these voices being used…