It started with what I had assumed was an ordinary breakout. I’d been stressed from moving for the first time in my life, and had punted on my typically zealous hygiene because, well, moving. You can’t really blame your skin for getting bad when you stop doing the things that make it good. Breakouts are already stressful enough, but this…
The Wolf Finally Frees Itself - a column by Brianna Albers
When you have a rare disease like SMA, there comes a point when you have to consciously choose to trust your doctors. Luckily for me, I grew up with a robust medical team. I had access to a variety of well-renowned medical systems, including my beloved Gillette Children’s, M…
Another day, another trek to Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare. This time, though, it’s for something I’ve never done before: a cortisone injection in my right hip. For all I’ve written about chronic pain over the years, I don’t think I fully understood how debilitating it can be until just recently. It…
You know you’re in trouble when your orthopedist uses words like “sclerosis.” After several excruciating months of pain, I was exactly where I needed to be: Gillette Lifetime Specialty Healthcare in St. Paul, Minnesota. I’d been dealing with hip and lower back pain since early…
Every March, I connect with a county worker to reassess my waiver, which is a federally financed Medicaid budget covering home- and community-based programs. The questions are always the same: How has my health been over the past 12 months? What do I like to do in my free time?…
Note: This column describes the author’s experiences with Cymbalta (duloxetine), Prozac (fluoxetine), and Celebrex (celecoxib). Not everyone will have the same response to treatment. Consult your doctor before starting or stopping a therapy. After months of agony — and I mean agony — I finally decided to go off…
When it comes to sleep studies, I mainly remember orange juice. Don’t ask me why. I was young then, around 8 or 9, so I have to assume the technicians were trying to bribe me or something. My last study was in 2002, so I was a little nervous when…
Note: This column describes the author’s own experiences with Cymbalta (duloxetine). Not everyone will have the same response to treatment. Consult your doctor before starting or stopping a therapy. Every morning, my caregivers present me with a bouquet of drugs. What started as a measly two syringes has become a…
On a perfectly mundane February afternoon, my mom and I drove to downtown St. Paul, Minnesota. It’s a new ritual now that I’ve transitioned most of my care to Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare. Every six months or so, I spend the afternoon at their adult clinic, where I am…
Note: This column was updated Jan. 29, 2026, to clarify the usage of Medicare and Medicaid. I knew things would change when my mom retired. For one thing, there was going to be a whole third person hanging around our house; for most of my life, it was just…
