Columns

For seven years, my Medicare prescription drug plan, Aetna’s SilverScript, has been one of the few things in my life I haven’t had to think much about. It simply worked. This fall, I learned that it will no longer be available in my state in 2027. Just like that, a…

Note: This column describes the author’s own experiences with various alternative therapies. Not everyone will have the same response. Consult your doctor before starting or stopping a therapy. I’ve used alternative therapies my whole life to fill the gaps in Western medicine. Through trial and error and changes in my…

After living with cystic fibrosis for nearly four decades, I’ve learned valuable lessons about support people. Chronic illness is not for the faint of heart, and not everyone can hang out in the uncertainty with me. I’m so grateful for those who can, and who have shown me what…

Longtime readers may recall that my first job after college was as a researcher in a cystic fibrosis (CF) lab at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. It was a transformative and deeply informative period of my life. I learned in the lab how frustrating science can be. For…

If I had a dollar for every awful word spoken to me over the years, I’d be a millionaire. “Are you anorexic? Or do you just throw up after you eat?” “Eww! You have alien fingers.” “Time to take your crazy pills at the nurse’s office, Lara!” These are…

For most of my life, food was medicine. Living with cystic fibrosis (CF) and pancreatic insufficiency meant my body didn’t absorb fat the way it should. Because of that, I also didn’t properly absorb fat-soluble vitamins. From childhood, I was taught to eat more: bigger portions,…

As a therapist who lives with cystic fibrosis (CF) and a double-lung transplant, I’m not immune to mental health struggles, and in my experience, it’s nearly impossible to talk about chronic illness without talking about mental health. For many years, I felt alone and separated from my peers, but…

At 55, and six years past a double-lung transplant, I sometimes catch myself marveling at how I’ve gotten this far with cystic fibrosis (CF). When I was a kid, nobody handed my family a map that stretched this far. Yet here I am, still learning how to live beyond…

I used to measure my worth the way so many of us are brought up to do: by what I did and by how productive I was. Productivity is a conversation starter in most social circles. How much you’ve accomplished or how busy you are is celebrated like a badge…

I love my job and find the work that I do fulfilling. It’s cool to be a pharmacist. That said, a major issue in healthcare right now is caregiver burnout. Providing round-the-clock care to someone who is sick can be exhausting. Hospitals have all kinds of initiatives designed to…