Category: About Me
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COVID, Paralysis & Deja Vu
Chronic illness is exhausting. When asked how I was doing via text message yesterday, I replied, “Equal parts fine and terrible.” Four years was a good run, but that nasty little bugger finally got me. I joined the masses and tested positive for COVID.
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The Not-So-Terrible Twos
Two years have passed since my stem cells were put back in my body to rebuild bone marrow and my immune system, it seems like a lifetime ago and yesterday all at once.
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That sounds like a female problem
I’ve learned through my four decades on this earth that the general consensus from medical professionals is that they just don’t know when it comes to women’s bodies, women’s health, women’s cycles, and women’s hormones. We’re too individual, complex, unique, tricky, hard, difficult, challenging, erratic, and unpredictable.
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What I’m Reading: 2024 thus far
Am I bombarding you with book updates and recommendations? Making up for lost time? Moderately manic in my writing as of late? Obviously, yes. Check out my latest must reads for this year.
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How many therapists is too many?
After years of trial and error, I now have three individuals dedicated to different aspects of my mental health. In comparison to my other medical teams, three seems like a small number. Let me reiterate and say it loudly for those in the back row, MENTAL HEALTH DESERVES YOUR ATTENTION TOO!
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2023 Reading Recap (really really late)
My safety net has and will always be books. So even though I haven’t published reading recaps in quite some time, I’ve had many a one-off conversation about recommendations. I will always come back to books. They are my home. They are safety. They are comfort. And when I can’t write, I will read.
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Accessibility For All – put it on the website
Yesterday was an amazing day because after almost eight months of work, Cleveland Clinic published a one-stop-shop for accessibility resources and accessing care at our locations. Don’t presume — specifically in healthcare — that you know what anyone is going through.
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The Disability Tax
There is a disability tax that without invite, attaches to all aspects of your life. People don’t talk about this and probably, unless forced, don’t think about it either. I know I didn’t! There is a loss of personal agency and choice.
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Reflections on an Unexpected Year
I am letting go of anger. I release the illusion of control. I revel in possibility and the unknown, and I am learning to hold both joy and sadness, acceptance and striving for more, contentment and wanderlust — simultaneously. I am loved. I am safe. I am enough.
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Speak Up: It’s pay day
A $10,000 refund doesn’t come along every day so today, I’m going to rejoice in this moment, take a calming breath, and appreciate that the outcome was worth the effort.
My Chronic Library 