I’m once more participating in A Chronic Voice’s writing prompts. This month’s words are: summarizing, crossing, moving, rebuilding, and expecting. I’ve been thinking about writing about pacing for a while now, and these words felt useful for that process. When the summary is too short So to summarize what most doctors tell their patients: “You…
This post is a response to Sheryl Chan of A Chronic Voice’s October writing prompts. This month’s terms are: disabling, enabling, committing, communicating, and reinventing. The first time I heard of Covid-19, my niece brought it to my attention. It was late December 2019, and she showed me a news article discussing this new virus…
Introduction by Alison As I have shared in previous posts, I have been living with Functional Neurological Disorder since 2000, and was diagnosed in July 2003. At that time, the condition was poorly understood, and my neurologist had few recommendations for me. Over the years, I found and explored many treatment options, many of which helped…
When writing my post about stress-related medical conditions, I went down an intellectual rabbit hole that I wanted to highlight: the stresses involved in being a minority of any kind. People tend to immediately categorize all they engage with as either “like” or “other”. They connect with those who are like them, and view the…
October through December is Open Enrollment season for the US Health Insurance system. This is the time when people can choose, change, or adjust their healthcare plan. With about 55% of the population covered through private employers, this is when employees have the right to examine their options and select the offered plan that best…
I’ve gotten to know Sarah Malm over the past year or so. She and I are running a Spoonie Coworking Space. She’s a fellow spoonie and an artist who creates lovely greeting cards. We were discussing our experiences of being Childless Not By Choice and I suggested she write this post for me. When it…
Nicole interviewed me for her Spooniepreneur podcast a couple of years ago, and we’ve clicked. When she suggested collaborating by cross-posting on one another’s blogs, I jumped at the opportunity. We both wrote about medical trauma from our own personal experiences. My post on her blog came out a few days ago, and Nicole and…
2020 was a rough year, and I’m recognizing the different pressures I’ve had, many of which were caused or magnified by Covid-19. I’m recognizing that while I’ve managed to do a fair bit this past year, I’m now a bit fatigued and low on energy for self-care as well as resistant to following the routines…
I don’t know about where you live, but here in New Jersey, we’re experiencing a decrease in Covid-19 spread. With everybody (over 16) willing to get vaccinated able to get shots, the numbers are going down a bit and it’s becoming time to think about catching back up with Al and my medical care. I’m…
In late March, I went out for a walk on the nature trail by my house. As I crossed one of the several bridges along the route, I noticed something unusual—a flash of silver as a fish (specifically, a bunker) surfaced, gasping, and then rolled back over into the water. This is not normal fish…