COVID-19 Columns

April 5, 2021April 5, 2021

Carl Jung Helped Me Understand the Pitfalls of Sarcoidosis

COVID-19 Columns, Sarcoidosis News Columns

“I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.” — Carl Jung I was browsing the internet last week looking for stock videos to help ... Read more

April 5, 2021April 5, 2021

Dungeons and Dragons Helps Me Live Without Duchenne for a Moment

COVID-19 Columns, Muscular Dystrophy News Columns

Kriki Cragwalker, a redheaded dwarf from the mountain city of Jagarz Dauk, grasps her enchanted, two-handed greataxe and is circled by a host of ancient green spirits with allegiance to ... Read more

April 2, 2021April 2, 2021

To Have a Persistent UTI or Not? That Is the Question

COVID-19 Columns, Multiple Sclerosis News Today Columns

If you read last week’s column, you’ll know I’ve just been through hell — which is a pretty big statement for an atheist. Of course, if there is a hell, ... Read more

April 2, 2021April 2, 2021

Why We Still Need to Wear Masks, Socially Distance, and Wash Our Hands

COVID-19 Columns, Multiple Sclerosis News Today Columns

“I’ve had my shots, so I’m protected,” a friend recently told me, referring to the COVID-19 vaccine.  My wife and I also have received our COVID-19 vaccines. More than a ... Read more

April 1, 2021April 1, 2021

How COVID-19 Has Shifted People’s Lives and Habits

COVID-19 Columns, Pulmonary Fibrosis News Columns

March 11 was the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring COVID-19 a pandemic. Since then, I’ve been reflecting. I’ve learned a lot this year about myself and others. ... Read more

March 31, 2021March 31, 2021

Learning to Bloom Where We’ve Been Planted — or Hurled

COVID-19 Columns, SMA News Today Columns

Growing up, about the closest I got to yardwork was burying some poor mussels I’d brought back one summer from a family vacation on the Texas coast. Somehow I thought ... Read more

March 31, 2021March 31, 2021

My Views About Exercise Changed as I Grew Older

COVID-19 Columns, Sickle Cell Disease News Columns

Sickle cell disease and exercise were antonyms for me growing up. I was raised with the view that they do not go hand in hand. My parents saw how vigorous ... Read more

March 30, 2021March 30, 2021

Unpopular Opinion: I Know What I Need, but the Healthcare System Doesn’t

COVID-19 Columns, Cystic Fibrosis News Today Columns

This is what I need. I’m going to tell you instead of my doctors, because that’s the life of a chronic patient. Even though I will tell my team, and ... Read more

March 30, 2021March 30, 2021

Rare Disease or Not, Only I Can Define My Success

COVID-19 Columns, Friedreich’s Ataxia News Columns

I’m approaching what can easily be labeled the midpoint of life for the so-called average person. Of course, such averages rarely take rare disease into account. But even without the ... Read more

March 30, 2021March 30, 2021

Let’s Show the Many Faces of Sarcoidosis This Awareness Month

COVID-19 Columns, Sarcoidosis News Columns

I stumbled upon sarcoidosis in 2002, and still wake each morning wondering what’s in store. It doesn’t follow a set path when it invades our bodies, making it just as baffling ... Read more

March 29, 2021March 29, 2021

Alzheimer’s Organization Delivers Grim Statistics in Annual Report

Alzheimer’s News Today Columns, COVID-19 Columns

The Alzheimer’s Association recently released its 2021 Facts and Figures report. Compared to the 2020 report, there are a few grim changes regarding the most common form of dementia. Primarily, ... Read more

March 29, 2021March 29, 2021

Sarcoidosis Left Me Feeling Fractured, Broken, and Like a Work in Progress

COVID-19 Columns, Sarcoidosis News Columns

Is the image of the person looking back at you in the mirror someone who’s fractured, broken, or like a work in progress? I find that to be an interesting ... Read more

March 29, 2021March 29, 2021

3 Melatonin Pills a Night Keep the Hallucinations at Bay

COVID-19 Columns, SMA News Today Columns

I see things that aren’t there. The writer in me realizes that, at first blush, this sounds like the opening line of a young adult novel. Take, for example, Maggie ... Read more

March 29, 2021March 29, 2021

I Acknowledge the Sadness and Then Count My Blessings

COVID-19 Columns, Lambert-Eaton News Columns

Eeyore from “Winnie the Pooh” has never been my favorite character. For most of my life, I could not relate to his ever sad disposition. He always seemed so melancholy ... Read more

March 29, 2021March 29, 2021

MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: COVID-19, UK ‘Mega-trial’, Pilates, Rituximab

COVID-19 Columns, Multiple Sclerosis News Today Columns

Certain Factors Worsen Outcomes in MS Patients With COVID-19 The worse your MS disability is, it seems, the worse the outcome if you’re infected with the novel coronavirus that causes ... Read more