Oops, I Did It Again
As Carrie pointed out in a comment to my last post, I may know the theory of listening to your body, but am occasionally somewhat slow to learn the practice. It happened again. Out of the blue last Tuesday – well, maybe not completely out of the blue, as I’ve been somewhat busy – my…
A Beginner’s Guide to Living with RA
My latest post for HealthCentral: “‘You have rheumatoid arthritis,’ your doctor says. Now what? Being diagnosed with a chronic illness can be a relief because finally, you know what’s wrong. It’s also scary and overwhelming – a new lifelong companion has been found, one you didn’t invite and don’t want.” You can read the rest…
The Table
I don’t remember a time when the dining room table wasn’t there. It is made of solid oak, standing firm on two solid legs, a bridge between them. The grain of the wood is cut in swooping curves inviting the hand into a caress flowing from top to bottom and down over the softly carved…
Satisfaction
Not too long ago, I had a nice little rant about pedestrians and their walking incompetence, in which I did not include pedestrians while they are behind the wheel of a car. Because then I would never have stopped writing. Suffice to say that the amount of moronity (is too word) displayed in walking is…
Adios Mi Amiga
Earlier this week, Dave the Wonder Repair Guy came to do some repairs on my wheelchair. While he was here, I asked him to take my old wheelchair back to the shop, where they could take the parts they could use and leave the rest for scrap. It’s been standing unused in my storage room…
The Three Rs
Nope, that’s not reading. ‘riting and ‘rithmetic, but reduce, reuse, recycle. Pardon me while I get on a soapbox. A few weeks ago, I was at a meeting of the local Neighborhood Association (I am the rep for my building) and one of items on the agenda was a presentation by the city’s Solid Waste…
Dead from the Waist Down
The other day, I meandered into the clinic for my shot and had a chat with one of the nurses. Specifically, I had a chat regarding the examination tables in the clinic. Not that they are any different than examination clinic in any other doctor’s office or hospital in the city. In fact, I didn’t…
Weekend Highlights & Winner
And speaking of surprising and unexpected, this weekend was surprisingly and unexpectedly spent sitting fairly still and ingesting copious amounts of drugs, as my shoulders went kablooey on Friday. It wasn’t even because I did too much and then could sit here and alternate between laughing at myself and (hopefully) chanting ‘it was worth it’….
One Contest & Another
Have you ever seen The Cooler? It’s a very good movie, with wonderful performances by William H. Macy and Maria Bello and a stunning performance by Alec Baldwin. It’s about a guy (Macy) who is not just a bad gambler, but is so atrocious at it that it transcends merely bad luck and becomes part…
A Walking Paper
Dear Ambulatory and Ablebodied Public At Large, Hi. Um… hello? Down here. No, not there, here in the wheelchair. Yeah, that’s it – hi there! Can I have your attention for a minute? Thanks much. As summer arrives in Toronto, so do the tourists and after a few weeks of navigating the meandering throngs, I’ve…
A Conversation with Richard Cohen
My latest post for HealthCentral: “Three weeks ago, I reviewed Strong at the Broken Places: Voices of Illness, A Chorus of Hope by Richard Cohen and I recently had the opportunity to speak to him about the book.” You can read the interview here.
Cloud Cover
I don’t like mushrooms. Never have. A more accurate statement might be that I loathe the wee bastards. Don’t like the taste, hate the texture, can’t stand the smell when they’re cooking. And yet, in the past 3 weeks or so, I’ve craved them. Craved. The vaguest mention of the word ‘mushroom’ captures my attention,…