Advocacy and Abnormality – a Column by Kristin Entler

It’s Friday, and after a long morning of stressful clinic calls that included coordinating appointments, negotiating a telehealth option amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and asking for and hoping a prior authorization drops on my Trikafta (elexacaftor, tezacaftor, and ivacaftor) before I need the refill, I decide I deserve a…

The rain comes down hard. From my bed I can hear the wind stirring up leaves with its warm air and white noise. Even though it’s morning, it’s not bright. The Omnipod on my arm, my insulin delivery system, beeps its loud and obnoxious tone, letting me know it…

Here’s a new fact for you to know about me: New Year’s is my favorite holiday season. To me, it starts on Boxing Day, which is officially recognized on the day after Christmas, and ends when work begins again in the new year. In my memory, all New Year’s Eve…

In elementary school, the holiday season was always a time of illness. With cold and flu season being driven, in large part, by Thanksgiving travels and family gatherings, it was inevitable that kids would return to school with whatever respiratory bug some uncle flew into Alabama from North Carolina,…

Imagine this: As an established patient with lifelong illnesses, you walk into any pharmacy, slide an access pass, and walk out with your prescription drug refills in less than five minutes. It didn’t require you to phone in your prescription. And you didn’t have to talk to anyone, unless you…

Last week, I went to my first indoor, in-person event since January 2020. Honestly, I’d spent a majority of the time since the COVID-19 pandemic began thinking that my days of attending indoor events were behind me. The fact of the matter is that the more people go unmasked…

“I want to get a Popsicle from the ice cream truck!” M’s nutmeg eyes lit up when I asked her what she wanted to do. She was my best friend at the time, and my dad had brought us to the arts and crafts fair, where my mom had a…

“Want to go for a ride in the car?” I ask my Australian shepherd and poodle mix, Azzie. It’s been a few months since I last trimmed his fur, so it’s grown out to the length that makes him look like a fuzzy Muppet. He wags his tail and pants…

On the most recent episode of CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” President Joe Biden declared the pandemic over. I wish I could be writing with champagne in hand and firecrackers crackling at a party that, yes, an endless future of indoor gatherings is in sight. But that image of…

Every day for countless years now, my routine has been the same. I take a handful of meds with breakfast and dinner, the cocktail of which ebbs and flows, and digestive enzymes with all of my meals. Like most people with a lifetime of chronic illness under their belt,…