You know when something is wrong, but you can’t put your finger on what, exactly, that is? The past week has been an exercise in expecting the unexpected. I woke up Wednesday morning to a weeks-early period. “Fine,” I thought. “I’m flexible. I can adapt. This is no big deal.”…
I love to go out and explore bits of the world with family and friends. Dinner at a restaurant, coffee dates, shopping trips, festivals, vacations — all of these are awesome activities. It takes some effort and teamwork to get my medical equipment out the door and…
Many a think piece has been written about what Twitter, and social media in general, does to our brains. Experts have even weighed in on what doomscrolling, a term Merriam-Webster defines as “the tendency to continue to surf or scroll through bad news, even though that news is saddening, disheartening,…
“Pneumonia! It’s been a few years. How’ve you been? Sorry to be blunt, but I’d rather you not stick around for too long since you’re a real pain in the butt.” Fortunately, my most recent encounter with my old acquaintance was relatively brief. I spent one night at the hospital…
It all started with a little pink pill. I’m allergic to everything under the sun. Thanks to a complex, multistep treatment regimen, I more or less have my allergies under control. But there are days when not even my trusty Mucinex Sinus-Max nasal spray will do the trick. I’m…
You have to be in an introspective mood to examine your own flaws and weaknesses. It takes both maturity and courage, neither of which come easy. I don’t like to do it any more than all of you, but bravery is often rewarded with riches beyond comparison. By riches,…
My husband, Randy, and I live in the North Carolina mountains. The New River State Park down the road lures campers and canoers in summer months. From late September through late October, the leaf-lookers join in. Fall is spectacular around this part of the state, with bountiful mountains…
Content warning: The following contains mentions of medical trauma and death. I knew something was wrong. But I didn’t always. When my friend and fellow columnist Sherry Toh messaged me one evening to say she was sick, I assumed it was a cold. She would disappear for a few days…
I was going to have a cardiac arrest. That’s what a doctor told my mum during my latest hospitalization for an infection, preparing her for the worst. My acid levels were too high, confirmed by a blood test and my struggle breathing. In his decade of experience, the doctor…
I hoard poems like others hoard sports trophies. It’d be an exaggeration to say that I have a poem for every emotion under the sun. But I do have ones that stick with me, that ring through my head like a chant. Take, for example, Richard Siken: “Tell me how…
