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Have you ever been caught up in a heated discussion with someone who continually refers to stories that confirm their beliefs? Or had a conversation in which it seemed as if the other person had read only the research that confirmed their side and had no reasonable counterarguments to your…

“If we had a little girl together, that’s what she’d look like.” He said this to me recently while eating ice cream sundaes with our girls. I slowly turned, a knot in my stomach, scared to look. As I glanced at the little girl in the corner (enjoying time with…

“Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill!” Many millennials immediately recognize the iconic jingle that was the introduction to the educational (and entertaining!) children’s science show “Bill Nye: The Science Guy.” Bill Nye was the only nonacademic exposure to science that some American kids enjoyed. At least, it wasn’t academic…

Everyone with cystic fibrosis knows that feeling. Sometimes, it creeps up on you slowly. Other times, it hits right away, like a truck speeding down the wrong side of the highway. That feeling is, of course, caused by side effects from antibiotics. As I sit here, going…

Disclosure. What a heavy word. While most people have some aspect of their lives hidden from view — or perhaps kept secret — for someone with cystic fibrosis (CF), disclosure can be a particularly anxiety-inducing word. I believe that CF should never…

I was fully deaf, too weak to walk across my living room (I couldn’t reach my upstairs bedroom anymore), constantly coughing and vomiting, soaked in sweat and wheezing, too anxious to face friends, under my parents’ 24/7 supervision, without a job other than occasional editing for a local magazine,…

My depression and anxiety went undiagnosed and untreated for years. I knew something wasn’t right, but I didn’t think it was “bad enough” for me to be officially diagnosed with depression or anxiety. My life wasn’t “bad” — my health was fine, and I was a good student…

Worrying is one of my most exceptional talents, as illustrated last week when preparing to travel to New York City. I strongly connect with the phrase “dress rehearsing tragedy.” If life starts to stabilize, I worry about the other shoe readying to drop.

I’ve been invited by Dr. Susan Madge to speak at the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and CF Europe Community Afternoon in June. Dr. Madge, director of the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Centre at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London, will be chairing a conversation on…

I’m restless. My eyes are red-rimmed from late-night Google searches. I can’t sleep, in part thanks to CF symptoms, in part because of a mind that’s running too hot, too fast. In daylight, too, I’m preoccupied. Each time I sit down…