Every year about this time, I strive to balance the pervasive holiday cheerful frenzy with the reality of a chronic illness. Our family manages to pull off a lot of Christmas traditions despite my TILT; we have a tree, ornaments, some home decorations, gift giving and receiving. I help with the Christmas parties in my … Continue reading
The viruses won the battle in our house the last few weeks and the kids and I went down. The germs will not be allowed to win the war but the blog has been silent while we struggled. We are nicely recovered now, just in time for extended family to come visiting. Fortunately, these are … Continue reading
I am TILTed but my children are not. They certainly have the possibility to become so, thanks to their genetic makeup. We already see their immune systems troubles, especially in my daughter. But they do not currently have MCS. So, do I treat them like they have this illness, like they might develop this illness, … Continue reading
I am still recovering from my misadventures in the workplace. I hate being back in a state of chronic symptoms rather than a baseline of good health with exposure related symptoms. Sigh. It’s getting better but I am not back where I was before. It’s all been frustrating and dissapointing. Then just when I needed … Continue reading
The gap I have been worrying about lately is one of resources. There are so many MCS patients who are in a desperate state of homelessness and isolation that I would like to help and do not know how. My instinct is that some of my fellow sufferers will heal to some degree and while … Continue reading
One of the most disturbing conversations I have ever had with a doctor was during my month at COEM (Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine). That was an overwhelming time for me, and I suspect many of my fellow patients can relate to that. After years of failing health and the medical profession failing me, … Continue reading
I am changing doctors again which, for me at least, can be a stressful time filled with second guessing. (My autocorrect just changed that to streusel time and wouldn’t it be great if every stressful time was indeed streusel time? Especially if I could eat streusel?) I started working with Dr. Grace Ziem in 2009 … Continue reading
Words have power, especially names. What I call this disease I struggle with has power. That name, whether it is in my head, in my writing, or in conversation effects how I see my self and how I present my self to the world. Especially when I write, I find that I hesitate with word … Continue reading
I plan for this illness. I have a whole category on the blog for Big Problems, Slow Solutions. I plan ahead for my kids’ material needs since I can’t shop. I plan family camping vacations since I can’t travel easily. I spent a year replacing sofas. I have Toxicant Induced Loss of Tolerance and the … Continue reading
I started writing this post on MCS awareness day and month. My fellow bloggers are producing some inspirational (Slightly Alive), meaningful (MCS Gal), useful (Seriously Sensitive to Pollution), and even funny work (Miss Diagnoses). Please check them out because I have not been any of those things. My silence only makes me even more aware … Continue reading
