Creaky Joints

I started painting my casts as a way to take back control of my diseases and do things my way in a world where my diseases often dictate most everything for me. I’ve had 36 hard casts, not including soft casts, post-surgical casts or braces. It’s an interesting life for sure. With a mixture of osteoporosis, [...]

As a woman living with lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia and other autoimmune conditions, I had hoped to write an article for The Mighty this month because March is Autoimmune Awareness Month. I had no idea that being a person with autoimmune conditions would make me a part of the vulnerable population. While scrolling through my Twitter [...]

A year ago I had an incredible opportunity to be interviewed and photographed. It taught me about who I thought I was and who I want to be. What a humbling and needed experience. It’s a Friday in January and it’s cold outside. I woke up to a whole 7 degrees. My hip is howling, [...]

As a long-time Crohn’s disease sufferer, pain was a constant reminder of my illness. Up until three years ago, I lived in a hospital bed. With Crohn’s, comes debilitating pain, high fevers, kidney stones, and constant trips to the bathroom. Three years ago, pain management was introduced into my life and everything changed for the [...]

It’s the end of the school year. The last week. Awards, fun days, field days. Fun right? Exhausting? Yep. Exceptionally exhausting for those of us who live with chronic illness, causing us to miss some of the fun days. The all too familiar mother’s guilt sets in my inner monologue. Not to mention the embarrassment. [...]

There is no finish line. You won’t walk out of the operating room in a moment of triumph saying, “We got it! She’s better now.” The dramatic moments in our relationship are so quiet they would never make it into a medical drama, yet they engulf the room in a searing way that I know [...]

Every morning, before my feet hit the floor, I am in a state of surprise. From sleeping in one position, or medicine being out of my system – I am in shock, after 10 years of living with this monster that took over my body. I think to myself, “I can’t do this. I cannot [...]

This has often been a great debate of mine since I got the thing years ago. To use or not to use… That is the question… I often find myself staring at this ominous piece of blue plastic in my purse like a curse. Once upon a time, I would have given anything to have [...]

I am an African-American woman in her 50s with very dark skin who in addition to battling psoriatic arthritis since my 40s, has battled plaque psoriasis — the scaly skin that itches and flakes — all of her life, erythrodermic psoriasis — the best way to describe this is that my whole body goes on fire — several [...]