The Seated View

 Mary and Ginger. Photo by Ralph Blakely, III I don’t remember exactly when and why Lynn introduced me to her cousin Mary. I think it had something to do with Mary being diagnosed with RA and Lynn thinking that we’d hit it off. So we emailed and then we called each other and yes, indeed. We hit it off. One of our biggest regrets was that Mary lived in Charleston and I in Toronto. We had plans that someday, we would get together and laugh our butts off while eating good food. We did a lot of that — the laughing. Mary was funny. Ridiculously funny and smart and that’s the best combination there is. Despite having lived many years in Ireland and then Charleston, Mary’s voice was quintessential New York. Raspy, straight out of the city accent, and she swore like a sailor. Always appropriately and in context, which made everything so much more funny. She was one of the first women to be diagnosed as HIV-positive in the late 1980s and was one of its longest surviv...

So, where was I…? The last time I posted, I had the flu and was pretty miserable. It was the precursor to a roller coaster ride into a very dark place. The flu turned into pneumonia, which sent me to the hospital in the middle of March. There was a trip to the ER, admitted into isolation, and then to the ICU with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS — only click on that link if you enjoy chills going up and down your spine). Interestingly, this may have had more to do with my asthma than my being immunosuppressed. Anyway, I was put in an induced coma on a ventilator, and had an emergency tracheostomy .   Photo credit: Ken Allen Soon after, I came as close as it is possible to dying, and actually flatlined for 10 seconds during another nerve-racking event. We figure that officially makes me a zombie. What? Too soon? I remember none of it. Well, that’s not entirely true. There is a blank space between the several days before I went to the ER an...

Earlier this week, we heard the news that Glenn Frey of The Eagles had died from complications of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and other conditions. It was an uncomfortable reminder that this disease with which we live has a mortality risk. How do you live with that? Is it possible to create a good life with RA knowing that statistically, there are a number of things that might cut your life expectancy short? The Facts. Ish. Imagine I’m holding your hand. This part of the post is a bit scary. Have you heard of the mortality gap? This term describes the shortened life expectancy of people with RA. RA is a systemic disease . Inflammation affects not just the joints, but also other systems in the body, including organs, tendons, and the vascular system. The mortality gap has a lot to do with the effects of inflammation on those systems. We have a higher risk of heart disease and stroke, due to the impact of inflammation on the heart. We have a high risk of pneumonia,...