On June 10, 2005, I heard the words, “You have MS.” I was twenty-eight years old, numb from the waist down, terrified, and completely unprepared for what came next. I remember the fear most of all. The way it wrapped around everything. I was afraid I’d never walk again, afraid that I’d end up in […]
My Twenty Years with MS: A Lesson in Perseverance Read More »
When I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, my mind drifted back to a memory I hadn’t thought about in years. It was the spring of 1980, and I was just four years old. That was the year my Aunt Loretta passed away, she was the first person I ever lost. Loretta Cavallo was born on
Where She Lives Now Read More »
The conference room buzzed with tension. Five round tables filled the space, each packed with five team members hunched over stacks of documents, their voices rising over one another in an unproductive back-and-forth. Papers rustled, pens tapped against notepads, and someone let out an audible sigh of frustration. I stood at the front of the
There’s No Such Thing as Good Writing—Only Good Editing Read More »
When I first encountered Spalding Gray’s Monster in a Box, I was struck by the absurd yet deeply relatable concept of wrestling with an unfinished manuscript. For Gray, the “monster” was a daunting novel he couldn’t seem to finish. For me, it wasn’t just one manuscript—it was a scattered web of digital and physical fragments:
Monster in a Box: Taming the Digital Dilemma of Unfinished Work Read More »
Multiple sclerosis has been compared to an iceberg because 90 percent of the disease activity may be hiding under the surface and not visible to the naked eye. This is especially true with cognition and fatigue. If your energy levels are low or your memory becomes foggy, doing even simple daily chores and activities can
Streamline Your Daily Activities with MS Read More »
Many of you have read my previous article about how a denied insurance authorization led me to an MS relapse, rendering me nonfunctional on my right side. As it turned out, MRI studies revealed that I had two new active lesions on my brain and one on the right side of my cervical spine that
Utilizing Rehabilitation Professionals in Recovery of an MS Relapse Read More »
Last year at this time I wrote about how small changes can make a big difference in the New Year. Some of the advice from that post included: developing a financial plan, changing eating habits, exercising, getting back on your schedule and setting attainable goals. I used this advice to make major changes in my
2016 – A Work-in-Progress Read More »
In September of 2010, I was faced with a devastating decision. I was experiencing severe spinal stenosis and a fractured C6 vertebra, which my doctors believed was a result of complications due to my initial onset of transverse myelitis five years earlier. My decision was to have an emergency cervical fusion to address the problem
Finding the Strength to Fight MS for the Holidays Read More »
Having a chronic illness, like multiple sclerosis, can be lonely and isolating. Sometimes it is hard to talk to your loved ones because, try as they might, they just don’t understand what you are going through. Before the internet, in order to find other people with similar circumstances, one would have to go out and
Catching a Robot Catfish in Social Media Support Groups Read More »
Some of us are born to do certain things in life. James Frederic “Jimmie” Heuga was born to ski. Jimmie began competitive skiing at age five and appeared in a Warren Miller film at age nine. In 1958, Jimmie became the youngest man ever to make the US Ski Team. In 1963, he won the
Remembering Olympian Jimmie Heuga and his Can Do Spirit Read More »