Blog Articles About friends

Thoughts on Guilt and Rheumatoid Arthritis

Guilt and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) go hand-in-hand. It goes something like this: You made plans. Sometimes big plans, sometimes small. Then you wake up to a day when your RA has decided to be extra — extra painful, extra flare-y, extra getting in the way of your life — and there’s only one thing to…

Read More

10 Perfect Gifts for People with Chronic Illness

Updated November 20, 2021 People with chronic illness are just like anyone else — they have a variety of interests and passions that you can consider when planning a present. But choosing a gift that shows you understand and support their health challenges can mean so much. Here are 10 perfect gift ideas for your…

Read More

Sisters, Friends, and Sister-Friends

I used to think that friendship was built in person. The internet taught me differently when it gifted me my tribe of a chronic illness community.  In my tribe the, the wise woman is Cathy Kramer. Cathy and I met ten or so years ago, when she started writing for HealthCentral, and we kept being…

Read More

What We Need From Others When We’re in Pain

Image description: rear view of two women sitting on a bench by a harbour. One woman is resting her head on the other’s shoulder. Pain is invisible. Which makes it hard to explain, and difficult for others to understand. I talked to the chronic pain community on Twitter and Facebook and they shared what they…

Read More

Photo Friday: Close Encounter of the Avian Kind

Over the past few weeks, The Boy and I have ventured out in nature. Laden down with cameras, we were hoping to catch signs of spring, in particular the spring migration. And boy, have we had some incredible encounters with birds. Let me tell you about one of them. In the middle of May, we…

Read More

Rediscovery

image credit: Darius Sankowski Seven or eight years ago, I stopped being able to read regular books. My neck and shoulders couldn’t handle holding the book or the looking down part. Before that, and for as long as I can remember, I carried a book with me wherever I’d go. Reading was my first love….

Read More