“When Will I Learn?” is a poem I wrote to express my feelings about my own denial over my medical condition. In it, I write about what I have gone through medically as a result of my own denial. Toward the end, I move to what “I am starting…
Many people in the chronic illness community will talk about how their illness affects their mental health. They talk about grief, depression, health, anxiety, chronic pain, and post-traumatic stress disorder. What is not talked about as openly is the effect of chronic illness on our body image. I…
“Change. We don’t like it. We fear it, but we can’t stop it from coming. We either adapt to change or we get left behind.” – Meredith Grey, Grey’s Anatomy When I started oxygen, I had to get used to staring at myself with a cannula…
I have learned the hard way that some of my chronic illnesses should NOT be managed in an emergency room. Some circumstances, however, warrant immediate medical attention. It has been difficult to figure out what exactly is an emergency and what is “normal” for a life with chronic hypoxia,…
Anyone with a chronic illness is well aware that most conditions are invisible. What this means is that although our bodies tell us something different, we may look completely fine to the outside world. According to the Invisible Disabilities Association, an invisible disability is one that…
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