Reflections

How ironic is it that one of my favorite bands is Life of Agony? Never in a million years would I think I would end up living a life of agony. I am not just speaking of the physical pain, but of the emotional pain that goes along with suffering …

I have many visible scars from various diagnostic procedures over the last 18 months. I have a scar on my ribcage from my chest drain, a scar just under my arm pit, and a scar just underneath my right breast, from my Hodgkin’s biopsy. I also have scars on my …

I purchased this book a few weeks ago, as I have been having some serious problems with intimacy due to my pain-riddled body. As it is such a taboo topic, I thought maybe a book would explain the situation more clearly, and perhaps give me some suggestions on how to …

Did you know that every year almost 70,000 young adults between the ages of 15 and 40 are diagnosed with cancer? Did you also know that the survival rate for this age group has remained the same over the past three decades? Fortunately the Livestrong Young Adult Alliance is working …

I had a doctor growing up who nicknamed me Mona Lisa. He said I hid behind my smile. I was a mystery to some doctors partly because if they asked how I felt, I would grin and respond with, “I’m fine.” He would say that he could see the wheels …

What was I thinking? I was supposed to post to The Fight Like A Girl Club over a week ago. As a power team writer, I write on topics related to the disease I fight, ankylosing spondylitis, and post once a month. Unfortunately I’m fighting AS which means that I …

During my journey with cancer, visitors who appeared at my bedside delivered an array of reactions–no two were the same.  It taught me a lot about what to tell someone going through cancer and how to treat them.  What I really didn’t want was to be treated differently because of …

Perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of leukemia treatment is the long hospitalizations most patients must endure.  This is because the chemotherapy given to most people with leukemia is very strong and wipes out much of their bone marrow, leaving just the stem cells behind.  It takes several weeks …

When someone you care about uses drugs—and this includes excessive alcohol use—it can wreak havoc in your relationship and in your life. After all, if you care about this person, you are enmeshed with him or her mentally and emotionally. You may be physically bonded through blood, marriage or living …

Many of us take medication to treat Fibromyalgia and ME/CFS, whether it be Lyrica, Cymbalta, Gabapentin, etc…in addition to our routines of light exercise and good diet. Some of us cannot tolerate these medications, due to MCS (multiple chemical sensitivities).  Fibromyalgia almost instantly equals getting all of the strange and …