the autoimmune hippie.

Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful though you have considered all the facts. . . Practice resurrection. – Wendell Berry

RA

  • the week devoted to my wheelchair.

    It’s been a spoonie sort of week, with several chronic illness issues on my mind, both of others and my own. And helping bring awareness to spoonie issues is my heart. Sunday night, I stayed up and watched Jennifer Brea’s documentary, Unrest, as I mentioned planning to in my previous post. If you haven’t seen… Read more

  • more breaks – and acceptance.

    Throughout this week, my body has been pulling a good sick again. My heart rate has been crazy high and so has my blood sugar at times. I’ve been weak and exhausted and frequently sleeping. I’ve been unable to stand for any length of time. My pains have had pains. It’s really been no bueno.… Read more

  • swimming toward the light.

    I wrote about my disease issues in detail last week, ending with my diabetes diagnosis. At that point, I had been loaded up with steroids for my RA flare – after two ER visits – and was going to take our girls to our planned outing on Sunday – which I did. I also assumed… Read more

  • a new diagnosis

    Friday evening, I was still dealing with the RA flare I wrote about in my previous post. I had come downstairs with my dinner to sit with my husband and started to feel weak and as if my heart were racing. When I checked my pulse, it was around 147. I told my husband I… Read more

  • a sick week, kate’s passing, and nights in the bad place

    First, let me say that, for whatever reason, I am having an incredibly sick week. This will be relevant to the rest of my post in a bit. Two days ago, a gnarly flare led to my being unable to stay awake for more than a couple of hours at a time and my husband… Read more

  • whole.

    First, let me say that I am not on a morbid kick. It’s just that when I watched the Ram Dass documentary I wrote about in my previous post, at the end of it, Netflix recommended another short documentary – about 40 minutes – called “End Game” exploring end of life care, that was filmed… Read more

  • wheelchairs and mala beads

    Probably the most well-known quote from the spiritual teacher Ram Dass is “We are all just walking each other home.” You’ve likely seen it before. It’s a favorite of mine. He is one of my beloved teachers. So, tonight, I finally watched his Netflix short documentary, “Ram Dass, Going Home” about his post-stroke life and… Read more

  • what a freaking day

    Y’all. It started last night. I was getting everything in order for my clean eating renovation and the girls were planning to start our summer swimming for exercise plan and I was good to go with accountability buddies to really start addressing all this medication weight. . . because it is a major health issue… Read more

  • a gnarly awareness month flare

    Imagine if at least half of your days were truly sick days – as in fever, night sweats, body aches, difficulty walking, overwhelming fatigue. Actual, in-bed sick days. And what if the rest of your “functional” days were all filled with crazy symptoms too? (you just happened to be out of bed for part of… Read more

  • a new spoonie purpose for me this awareness month.

    May is Arthritis Awareness Month. It is also the Awareness Month for Celiac Disease, Cystic Fibrosis, Chiari Malformation, Lupus, and several other serious spoonie diseases. I’ve written often about my struggles with rheumatoid arthritis and celiac disease and the struggles our daughter is experiencing as well. I’ve shared all the issues we’ve had with doctors… Read more