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Finding Balance in Life When Managing Multiple Health Conditions

If I were to describe all of the health conditions I have, I’d need more column space. Each aspect of my health entails a unique story that requires explanation to understand the complexities. It’s challenging to balance all of the coexisting health conditions while maintaining my sanity. At an appointment with the pulmonologist last week,…

‘One Day More’ (Until Discharge)

Transitioning home from a lengthy hospitalization was always bittersweet. While I longed for the comforts of home, being an inpatient for weeks on end turned into a strange “Beauty and the Beast” situation. I was a volunteer hostage, and I became dependent on my host. Dependence Like a zoo animal…

Questioning the Psychology of Need

Three days before my first semester away from home, I sat in a sea foam green chair straight out of the 1990s. I was 20, six months shy of graduating to my city’s adult CF clinic from the pediatric one, and sitting across from a doctor who was telling me…

How to Talk to the Hard of Hearing

Cystic fibrosis took my sister’s hearing. Well, actually, it was prolonged exposure to Tobi (tobramycin). Tobramycin is a frequently prescribed bactericidal antibiotic, or aminoglycoside, that’s effective in dealing with CF exacerbations. Because it’s so good at beating back pseudomonas, many adult CFers use it frequently and for extended…

Healthcare and Fashion: Send In the Gowns

If you plan on dressing like a doctor or a nurse this Halloween, you already know what to wear: a long white coat, scrubs, or an old-school nurse cap. Costuming a patient for a television show is easy, too. Simply put them in a hospital gown and have them…

Learning to Walk Alongside Grief

I sat with this heavy feeling for years without knowing its name. Throughout my turbulent health journey, a deep sadness would often wash over me. I didn’t understand why, as there wasn’t a precipitating event. But I knew I had to dive into it in order to understand what was…

Colie in the Bathroom

I assume the bathroom is a sterile, uncomfortable place for most people. It’s a room where you touch up your makeup, relieve yourself, or take a shower at the end of a long day. But for me, a chronically ill person, the bathroom is so much more than that. A…