The Wisdom of Youth When he turned 16, Carey Hughley III showed his brand new driver’s license to his sister Alisa. “You’re an organ donor?” she asked. “Yeah,” he said. “I’m not gonna need ‘em when I’m dead,” In high school Carey was part of the swim team that set the NC state record in the 200-meter freestyle relay. ...
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Below is a guest post by Melissa Adams VanHouten who suffers from gastroparesis. But first… What is Gastroparesis? Gastroparesis [GP] is a serious disorder in which the stomach does not empty its contents into the small intestines. Normally, the vagus nerve stimulates the stomach muscles to churn and break up food we eat. That food then moves on to...
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Being a Spoonie You may not know it but if you are a patient with a chronic illness, you may be a spoonie. In 2010 Christine Miserandino wrote a post called The Spoon Theory. In the post, Christine describes explaining to her best friend what it really feels like to live with Lupus. She asks her friend to hold 12 spoons and tells her that the spoons are...
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In the Beginning Feeling alone in your life journey–with illness as your companion—can make the burden of chronic disease seem unbearable. As Kerri Sparling writes, “For much of my life, I was the only diabetic I knew…. Where were all the people who were living with this disease, like I have been since I was a little girl? Was I the only...
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Below is a thorough Infographic by Mount Sinai Hospital on diabetes. It describes Type 1, Type 2 and gestational diabetes as well as the impact diabetes can have on your body. Source: Mount Sinai...
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A guy is in a line of patients trying to get released from a mental institution. He watches as the others go in to meet with the doctor and hears the questions the doctor asks: “point to your right arm,” “point to your stomach,” “point to your toes,” “point to your knee,” and so on. He sees which answers are correct, and which answers are...
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The Sami people of Northern Scandinavia and Russia have over 180 words for snow and ice. Linguists and anthropologists talk about the evolution of a language as tied to ideas and needs that are most crucial to those who speak it. Our basic needs are food, water, shelter and sharing. When reading patient blogs, what Ernest Hemingway says about...
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Help us help others! Please spread the word: Autumn Harvest Celebrations of autumn, the harvest, and the blessings of the passing year are found in many cultures. In China, there’s the celebration of the harvest moon. In the Jewish culture, a festival called Sukkot celebrates the wandering in the desert and the harvest. The ancient Greeks celebrated a...
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The time, energy and intellectual capacity of being a pancreas is daunting. “I am often the only person around who needs to do complicated mathematical equations before eating anything, before going anywhere, before mowing my lawn, shoveling snow, taking a walk, or before going to sleep at night. Diabetes is always on my mind, whether I like it or...
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Do you keep losing your keys? Are words staying on the tip of your tongue a few moments longer than they used to? Should you be concerned? A recent study suggests that people with type 2 diabetes may suffer from brain loss in some important parts of the brain. However, there are many studies that describe protective activities, or even generative...
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So often people who undergo chemotherapy hear something like this from their family, friends or other well-wishers, “Thank goodness that’s over, now you can get on with your life. You can get back to normal.” Although it’s true that chemotherapy is over, the road that the patient is on is not smooth. There are important changes that caregivers and...
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Growing up, Colleen Bronstein spent all summer at her family’s summer home at the beach and when she married they had a pool and visited the beach house twice a year. Fair skinned, freckled and Irish she loved the outdoors. Knowing the Signs “I had an itchy spot on my back for a year or so and when I went to see my family doctor about something...
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