My therapist said to write instead of buying fancy purses to mask coping skills. So here I go: I placed my mom on hospice care because transporting her back and forth to doctors had become harder on her than the actual medical care she received once we got there. The reward simply wasn’t worth the... Continue Reading →
Hospice chaos, caregiver exhaustion, biologic crash, emotional overload, and survival mode—with just enough rest to breathe for a minute.
I’ve had one hell of a month. Like… if there were an Olympic event for emotional whiplash, I’d be standing on the podium with a gold medal and an ice pack. It started with my almost 10-year-old cat, Jaxson. He had a cough. Just a cough. I did what any responsible pet parent does—I took... Continue Reading →
Perspective with chronic illness is…let’s just say, flexible in all the wrong ways. Last week? Absolute chaos. A flare so aggressive it felt like my body woke up and chose violence. Enter: steroids—the overachieving frenemy. They did their job and calmed things down, but at the small cost of sleep, sanity, and any hope of... Continue Reading →
My weight and I have been a complicated relationship my entire life. I was never the skinny girl. I was the girl with curves—or as my aunt liked to say, “a brick shithouse.” To this day, I’m still not entirely sure if that was a compliment or a construction assessment. I had curves. Big boobs, small waist,... Continue Reading →
In September of 2022, I had pneumonia. I didn’t know that at the time and went to a local CVS to get a COVID test. While I was in the treatment room, I collapsed, and an ambulance was called to take me to the hospital. A year later, I got a bill from the ambulance... Continue Reading →
Every morning I wake up and think, today is going to be the day I feel better.Today will be the day I can function like a normal human being.Today is the day I will feel great. Then I get out of bed and realize the pain, fatigue, and general malaise are still there. It’s hard not to feel... Continue Reading →
I recently received a letter regarding my healthcare and the upcoming changes being planned. The first sentence includes the following sentence, "the impacts of inflation and costs incurred from high-cost claimants." high-cost claimants high-cost claimants high-cost claimants Reading this letter today was insulting. The language used—phrases like “high-cost claimants”—felt incredibly dehumanizing. It reduces real people and... Continue Reading →
Over the past three weeks, my symptoms seem to have taken a detour in the wrong direction. The fatigue that finally felt like it was improving has doubled down like it forgot it was supposed to be leaving. I walk the dog and need to lie down. I do a load of laundry and my... Continue Reading →
For years, I’ve pushed myself past my limits. In grad school, I worked a full-time job and two part-time jobs just to make ends meet—while earning not one, but two master’s degrees. Exhaustion wasn’t a warning sign; it was just the price of admission. At work, I’ve always pushed myself to never be that person—the one who... Continue Reading →
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