A year ago, I wrote a book about my dog, Georgia Grace. Georgia is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who lives with multiple, serious chronic illnesses including the top 3: Syringomyelia, Chronic Valvular Heart Disease, and Diabetes. I was told her life expectancy was three years. Today, she is 10 years, 6 months and […]
I’ve not taken a proper vacation since my dog was diagnosed with diabetes. I refused to leave her for over two years until this past September, when I traveled to Washington DC for 2 nights for a patient advocacy trip. I admit that I was a wreck until I had her back in my arms. […]
Recently, social media has been buzzing with the warning that the government will soon be using social media tracking to crack down on disability fraud. I wouldn’t say this is surprising. People have been spying on the disabled for years. Growing up, I always heard how people “faked disability” to milk the system. My family […]
I am often asked about my #spooniedog, Georgia Grace. She is still my feisty, stubborn, and adorable sidekick. On days when I hurt, she has been very protective. This is a change since my cat Lola passed. Georgia was always the “world’s worst nurse” but has slowly become my greatest comfort as I’ve been battling […]
Recently, I’ve been going through a lot a stress. Health, family, pets, household issues, etc….if I wasn’t for bad luck, I’d seriously have none. On top of it all, I’ve gained a ton of weight from both inactivity due to my broken foot and stress eating. Then I ended up getting sick. The kind of […]
Today was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day (extra points if you know that book!)….well, I may be a little melodramatic, but my day sucked the life out of me. It started with about 2.5 hours of sleep. I had to use my crutches a lot yesterday while traveling home from my holiday […]
I spend time with a lot of kids. In my work and in my life, I am surrounded by kids a lot. The other day, a kid came up to me and our conversation went something like this: Kid: I feel so bad for you. Me: Why? Kid: I read your book. Me: (thinking kid […]
…..my latest blog on The Mighty. Read about my life with Georgia Grace. I always write about myself as a person living with multiple chronic illnesses (rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, Graves’ disease, high blood pressure, and disseminated superficial actinic porokeratosis), but today I am going in another direction. My beautiful dog, Georgia Grace is a […]
It’s been a rough couple of weeks. The dog’s diabetes diagnosis (see my previous blog It’s been a while…) and the stress of handling it caused me to flare HARD. A medrol dose of prednisone and a lot of rest has gotten me in better shape. I don’t feel great, but then again, I never feel […]
It’s been a while since I have written. I’ve had a serious case of writer’s block and honestly, since switching to my latest biologic drug, I’ve felt pretty good. Maybe I was feeling cocky. Maybe I was feeling lucky. Maybe I am only inspired to write when I am in pain. Today I am inspired […]