Stories Told. Lives Changed.
If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.–Marcus Aurelius I saw my neurologist today. After reviewing a recent MRI of my brain, he informed me that the deterioration that plagued […]
The following post is part of the The January Project: Chronic Illness. A month long project where I research and write about chronic illness. The information presented in this project is intended for educational purposes only. I am not a doctor. I am a teacher and writer who, while being afflicted with two chronic illnesses, is trying […]
The following post is part of the The January Project: Chronic Illness. A month long project where I research and write about chronic illness. The information presented in this project is intended for educational purposes only. I am not a doctor. I am a teacher and writer who, while being afflicted with two chronic illnesses, is trying […]
Almost four months ago I adopted a veganish diet hoping that it would relieve my chronic pain and lessen my steroid dependency. So far, it has. The workings of my new diet also stirred hearty conversation around the Thanksgiving dinner table when people realized my plate was void of turkey. So here are 13 questions […]
“Everything dies, baby that’s a fact But maybe everything that dies some day comes back. Put your makeup on, fix your hair up pretty And meet me tonight in Atlantic City.” Bruce Springsteen, Atlantic City Last Friday I made the 60 mile pilgrimage from Philadelphia to the Atlantic City, New Jersey to present my writing workshop […]
After a three year fight with the infamous steroid Prednisone — I’m proudly standing in the middle of the ring and raising my arms in victory. In July of 2014 my rheumatologist prescribed a moderately high daily dosage of 35 milligrams of Prednisone to relieve my chronic inflammation and joint pain caused by the autoimmune disorder — sarcoidosis. The […]
It was this week, last year that I published The Day I Learned I Could No Longer Jump ( or learning to fly). It was one of the greatest leaps I ever took. Here’s why. Any writer who tells you they’re not worried about how their work will be perceived is lying. Look dear reader, I […]
It was a tradition of sorts. In the initial months following my diagnosis, after each doctor’s appointment, I would go to the bar Given my deteriorating health, maybe a few pints and a plate of fried pickles was not the most constructive response, but sometimes nothing soothes a fractured soul like the warm panel walls, a […]
When I decided to celebrate my worst day I had romantic dreams of baking a chocolate cake, coating it with vanilla icing and beautifully decorating it with some unabashed inspirational quote. Here’s what happened. It’s okay to laugh. Seriously. I know, it’s high fructose, high caloric train wreck. Just in case you can’t read it, […]
I felt it coming for sometime now. I was waiting for it like the way you wait for seasons to change or like the way you wait for something to arrive in the mail. Never knowing exactly when it will arrive, but when it does, your life with be somehow different. Maybe it was the […]