The Seated View

We recently had a perfect snowy day. It was calm and the snow was really fluffy, transforming my little corner of downtown Toronto into a magical winter wonderland. So you have to go out in it, right?

I need a new bed. More specifically, I need a new mattress, and as my current bed frame is a double XL, and there isn’t a lot of choice in that category, I decided to go for a whole new bed. I had a couple of requirements: a double bed, no higher than 22 inches (reason below), fairly soft to make my Fibro-and RA-riddled body happy. You’d think that wouldn’t be too difficult.  You’d be wrong. Cue entry into a rabbit hole of confusion, frustration , and ridiculous expense. This particular adventure can be loosely categorized into the following categories: Height issues This is a combination of my height versus the height of the beds. I’m fairly short (5’2” on a good day), and beds have become quite high . High enough that people below the size of an NBA player would need to jump into these monstrosities, or require a footstool or ladder. Since I use a standing pivot transfer to move from my chair to another surface, my butt was significantly below that of th...

Three years ago today, Your Life with Rheumatoid Arthritis: Tools for Treatment, Side Effects and Pain was published and I fulfilled my lifelong dream of being an author. It’s been an amazing three years. My little book was very well received by people who live with RA and I have been lucky enough to meet many of you, some in person, most by email and on social media. Every time I do, it warms my heart and puts a smile on my face. When you sit in front of your computer for months and years and write, you hope that your idea for the book is going to resonate with others. You imagine the people who will enjoy your book and, in this case, find help in it to live better lives with a difficult disease. Knowing that over 2500 of you (so far) are reading those words is incredible to me. Some of you were kind enough to leave a review on Amazon . And although it is totally uncool to say this, I’ll admit to having read those reviews more than once. On the days when the writ...

A little over a week ago, this ad ran during the Super Bowl It deals with opioid -induced constipation and is, in my opinion, both discreet and direct, as well as very, very charming. It’s a very subtle ad for a medication that might help , but it is also much more than that, sending a message that people who take opioids are out there in the world among us, normal people living normal lives. And it’s created in partnership with a number of excellent organizations, such as CreakyJoints, For Grace, US Pain Foundation, American Chronic Pain Association and The Power of Pain. Immediately, lots of people made a joke about this being an ad for constipated junkies, Bill Maher among them . But it didn’t stop there. Others were outraged, including the White House Chief of Staff, who tweeted “next year, how about fewer ads that fuel opioid addiction and more on access to treatment.” Seriously. via GIPHY The very first words in the ad are “if you need an opioid to ...