The Seated View

I've always looked to books for inspiration, information and community. This can be especially helpful when you have a chronic illness — adapting is hard and reading how others have found a way through can make a tremendous difference. In my new slideshow for HealthCentral, I have put together a collection of the best chronic illness books for you: "Having a chronic illness adds a unique challenge and perspective to your life. Adapting to this and finding a way to live your life to the fullest requires support and information from many different places. Some of the best resources are books written by others who live with chronic illness. These authors provide information and inspiration that we can use to help with our own journey. Even better, they make us feel part of a community — rejoicing in the “me too” moments and sharing both tears and laughter. Here are some of the best chronic illness books to help you get started." Find out what's on my list of ...

I love my Loopy Case . It has solves a many of the problems I have in using smart phones, problems related to my rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and disability. Because of lifelong RA, I can’t hold a smart phone — it’s just too wide for my grip. Not to mention that I don’t actually have much of a grip, what with my fingers being mostly fused straight. And then there is the rest of my upper body, which makes it near impossible to hold anything to my ear. And so on. When I first got a smart phone several years ago, I bought a case with a cover and it worked fairly well. There were still a lot of things I couldn’t do and one I did remarkably well. Dropping the thing. Phones are slippery. After my medical adventure last year, I had an additional problem. I came out of the ICU with damage around my ulnar nerves causing numbness and tingling in my hands and fingers . The one on the left is still especially sensitive and holding the phone case required turning my lower...

I should have these giveaways more often – I’m having a blast. What about you? There was a lot of excitement about this week's prize, the beautiful adaptive Integrale cutlery. Thank you so much again to Heubl for donating a set to give away. And the winner is…. Tony Kitchell, who left a comment on the blog saying "This cutlery would finally make it so that I won't have to wince in pain just to butter toast. I can eat without putting on splints."   Congratulations, Tony! Please email me at leneATyourlifewithraDOTcom to claim your prize. Tune in tomorrow for Giveaway #3!   

It takes a lot of guts to have a chronic illness. This thought came into my mind as I was preparing for a drug challenge appointment that had the very real possibility of me going into anaphylactic shock.* It’s a fun thing to do on a Wednesday. Granted, this one is a somewhat extreme example of what you put yourself through when you are living with a chronic condition. So let’s take a look at some of the other things that are part of our everyday lives. Surgeries and yes, it’s on purpose that I made that a plural, as so many of us have been there more than once. Some even dozens of times. You may not have thought of yourself as brave until the day you show up at the hospital, willingly letting someone cut you open. But you gather up all the strength you have and do it anyway. And what about this one: injecting yourself with medication that you know will incur side effects, sometimes making you curl up on the bathroom floor, puking and with terrible headac...