Chapters 66 through 70 of League of Mortals are now available. New readers should start at the beginning. Most of the book was written based on my own experiences – meaning I did almost zero research. Chapter 66, however, required a bit of work, and I’m quite pleased with how it turned out. I knew [...]
Tue, August 24 2010 » 1 » 2 Comments
It’s like they know when I need to take a trip. And then try to screw it up. I am going out of town the country for a week, starting tomorrow. On Wednesday, my doctor prescribed a lower dosage of paroxetine, to help me wean off it. Cutting the pills I have in half was [...]
Fri, July 30 2010 » 1 » 1 Comment
For this week’s PFAM, Leslie asks… “What have you done (or what do you aspire to do) in spite of illness?” When I was first diagnosed, my doctor told me I had to take it easy: too much stress would make me sicker. That meant no sports, no hard classes, etc. So I stopped going [...]
Mon, July 12 2010 » 1, Uncategorized » No Comments
For the last several months I have been taking a drug called paroxetine – the generic version of Paxil. Paroxetine is a selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor (SSRI) used to treat people with depression. In my case, I’d been having difficulty focusing and getting things done, and my doctor felt that this might be due to [...]
Sun, June 6 2010 » 1, Uncategorized » 2 Comments
My latest post for Change.org is Health Reform Introduces… the “Gap Year”! ….I discovered that I had to go straight to college: my parents’ insurance would no longer cover me if I took a year off between. So I went to college with no real ambition or focus, and frittered away two years taking classes [...]
Thu, April 1 2010 » Uncategorized » No Comments
Vlad asked: “how have you learned to adapt around your illness in order to accomplish things that are important to you – even though your illness may prevent you from achieving the goals you had before you got sick?” This is a little late, so I hope he accepts it, but here’s my answer: Detachment. [...]
Mon, March 22 2010 » Uncategorized » 4 Comments
For her edition of Patients for a Moment, Selena asked: “What are the four letter words you use to describe your life with chronic illness?” I could fill a month’s worth of posts with just the profanities that come to mind—but who would read it? “Suck” would be the most descriptive. “Pain” is also appropriate. [...]
Sun, February 7 2010 » Uncategorized » 2 Comments
It feels like an alien is about to pop out of your guts. You think I’m exaggerating? You have no idea. Before I get to that, I want to clear my tabs in this last post of the year. First, you should read Bob Herbert’s op-ed about the Senate’s plan to fund health care by [...]
Thu, December 31 2009 » Uncategorized » 3 Comments
I was at a church meeting last week – because I’m in one of those denominations that has lots and lots of committees – and we were talking about spiritual development. One person said it only really happens in times of hardship, to which I reacted a little too strongly for the context. Let me [...]
Sat, December 12 2009 » Uncategorized » No Comments
You probably know the mid-Atlantic region got its first snow of the season this weekend; the accumulation is still melting away, muddying my yard in the bare patches. The snow was pretty, but I hate it. I grew up in Florida, and didn’t see standing snow until I was eleven years old. That was too [...]
Mon, December 7 2009 » Uncategorized » No Comments
A novel crime against decency by Duncan Cross
