Living

Most people don’t worry about having enough surgeries. But I have reached the point of four decades of accumulative, aggressive joint damage from rheumatoid arthritis and I wonder: “Did I...

I'm having a hard time believing that it's now the year 2020, despite what the calendar says. I can still clearly remember gathering with my family (Mom, Dad, sister, aunts...

All morning sitting in my chair at my desk I felt a creeping but clear pressure growing in my chest. I thought, "Perhaps I worked out too hard this morning,"...

In this particular case, when I reference darkness, I am talking about light....glorious light. It really fascinates me how different the daylight hours are depending on where you live. I knew this...

New year, new me, new decade…I’m getting it done. Last decade was rough. It was my first ten years of my diagnosis and I fought myself every step of the...

Let’s look back a little, to when we were kids; back when we had to take naps at least once a day. They were forced on us because we didn’t...

So, in the interests of transparency, my birthday is on Valentine’s Day and my last name is Hart, so I do have a particular affinity for this holiday. We do know...

I’m busy. Busy fighting Busy healing Busy resting Busy reading   I’m fine. Fine feeling Fine looking Fine being Just fine   I’m chronically okay chronically sick chronically fighting chronically...

A typical relationship centers around two people: me and someone else. Simple, right? Not anymore. Now there is a third individual to think about: my rheumatoid arthritis. It is just...

It had been several years since I had any significant degree of neck pain, other than the standard stiffness one might get from turning at an odd angle or sitting...

Breaking old habits or introducing new ones are often difficult things to do. More so if the habit you wish to break has a high immediate payoff or addictive potential...

Now that the weather has turned (much) colder in Minnesota, my swollen and inflamed joints are happier thanks to the cool, dry weather. The heat and especially the humidity of...

Rheumatoid arthritis is a particularly nasty beast that takes so much away from us on a daily basis. However, as much as life with rheumatoid arthritis has taken pieces of...

We live in a society that is inherently fluid—or, so we are told. And because of that fluidity, we are supposed to be flexible, adaptable, and willing to instantaneously change...

For a number of years I’ve done well with setting and tracking health-related goals. (See previous articles: 2014 Goals, 2015 Goals, 2016 Goals, 2017 Goals, 2018 Goals, Goals 2019). Perhaps surprisingly (at least to...

It was raining and I was exhausted when I arrived into my home station on the train and discovered that my wheelchair cab wasn’t there. I received a message that...

We survived the holidays!! We even had fun, because we planned ahead. Now it’s January. The landscape is barren, white or grey, devoid of life. It’s a new year, but...

I  am not an athlete.  I wish I were, so I could run and defeat RA like many of our warriors.  I wish I could do the Jingle Bell Run...

It’s “winter” here in Florida. Of course, I use quotation marks around that because it doesn’t really get that cold where I live compared to other parts of the country...

I’m a little late with this article, but I feel like this group will forgive me!! Honestly, when do we not have events to plan for? This time of year...