My Invisible Illness Photo Shoot
Introduction People often remark that those of us with invisible illnesses “don’t look sick.” However, we deal with substantial physical and emotional challenges. To shed light on the often hidden side of living with chronic illness, I completed an “Invisible Illness Photo Shoot” with dear friend and phenomenal photographer Jessica Keener Photography. Goals of the photo shoot 1. To illustrate that you cannot tell what someone is going through just by looking at them. I hope that these photos help people remember to “be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle” (Ian MacLaren). 2. To help those who have similar invisible challenges not feel alone. I have benefited from…
To my Chronic Illness Medical Team…
It was very therapeutic for me to write a guest blog post for CreakyJoints, a patient advocacy and education site that focuses on arthritis and related conditions. To my chronic illness medical team is my love letter to the often unsung heroes in the medical profession: providers who care for patients like me who have chronic, complex, invisible illnesses. I am so fortunate to have had dozens of compassionate, caring providers during my 16 years with rheumatoid arthritis. I hope to inspire other providers to go into some of the less popular specialties such as pediatric rheumatology, where there are currently some shortages nation-wide. You won’t have the most straightforward patients,…
A New Way to interpret “But You Don’t Look Sick”
I am happy to report that I am now blogging on the Creaky Joints website. Creaky Joints is a nonprofit that provides information sharing, support, and advocacy resources for persons with arthritis and related conditions, many of which are chronic, invisible illnesses. My first blog post was A New Way to Interpret “But You Don’t Look Sick – please note the link is currently broken but I’m told it will be fixed soon (as of 10/2019). While we’re waiting for it to be back up, I’ve posted the text for this post below. ————————————————————————————————————– When I communicate my diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis to someone for the first time, I’m often told…
10 Years with Rheumatoid Arthritis: What’s the Impact?
I recently realized that I have lived with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) for ten years, or roughly a third of my life! In that time I’ve graduated college, traveled to 12 different countries, lived in 3 states, traveled to/through over 15 states, started swing dancing, adopted 2 kittens, earned a Masters degree in occupational therapy, got married, bought a house, and more. I’ve also spent a considerable amount of time and money managing this chronic illness and mitigating it’s effects so I can live with the best quality of life possible. In honor of my diagnosis anniversary, I’d like to share how RA has (and hasn’t) affected my life over the…
Arthritis Humor and the Therapeutic Powers of Laughter and Social Media
Last week I started a GIF based Tumblr blog called “Arthritis Humor.“ My goal for this blog is to help patients with autoimmune arthritis (and other chronic illnesses) transcend their experiences via humor, and feel less alone by connecting to others through shared laughter. Why find the humor in arthritis? As a healthcare professional and patient, I will concede that there is nothing intrinsically funny about either category of arthritis: osteoarthritis (“wear and tear” arthritis, the kind associated with aging) or autoimmune arthritis forms such as rheumatoid arthritis (whereby one’s own immune system mistakenly attacks the lining of one’s joints and other body systems as well). However, as a patient with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), I believe…
Why I Dance (with arthritis)
I created this video ostensibly for a Jazz Video Contest in 2010, but in reality the idea had been kicking around my head for a while and I just needed an excuse to get out and actually complete my vision 🙂 It pretty much speaks for itself, but I will add a few notes for context below: Video Objectives To show that everyone can enjoy the swing dancing community, regardless of what challenge they may have in their life. Many people in the Seattle dancing community had no idea I had Rheumatoid Arthritis, so I also wanted to communicate my health situation to them in a way that would make…