Category: MS
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Life Lately: Closing Out 2025
There were a lot of things that occurred in 2025 that were NOT on my bingo card. Looking back however, the year is full to the brim with so much joy, connection, life, and love.
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The Fallacy of Primary Care in Chronic Illness
Most people look to healthcare – to doctors – for the answers. I enter all encounters knowing answers don’t exist.
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What I Wish I Knew After an MS Diagnosis
12 years of living with MS and there’s a wealth of information I wish I had sooner. Sharing my list of what I wish someone told me at the beginning.
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My Complicated, Needy, Irrational, and Humbling Relationship
The doctor/patient relationship will never be equal. I need him, but I don’t want to need him. I am so lucky to have found him, but I wish I never met him. What a phenomenally unfair burden to place on another person.
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Understanding My Lost Anticipated History
I said, “I was healthy until the moment a doctor told me I wasn’t. And nothing prepares you for that.” He replied, “Carolyn, we are all one test away.” It’s cruel really, how your world changes in an instant but the effects are infinite.
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An Interview with my Former Neurologist
Listen to a one-on-one interview with my former neurologist and read about what I’ve learned in my dual role as a patient and employee of Cleveland Clinic. I reflect on my physical decline due to MS, the importance of advocating for oneself as a patient, and my heartfelt gratitude for the medical team I’ve partnered…
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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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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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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.
My Chronic Library 