Category: Stories

  • The face of (dis)ability

    The face of (dis)ability

    OK, so the photo is accidentally very low resolution – and it’s not the most flattering image of me I’ve ever taken – but hopefully it gets my point across.  People who are sick are also capable.  A while ago I wrote a post about living with brain-fog and in…

  • “I have a migraine” is NOT a lie

    “I have a migraine” is NOT a lie

    When I was in my 20s, I worked in the headquarters of a large Australian retail company, project managing the construction of their stores across the country.  It was a great job, because I got flown around Australia, and OK, I wasn’t in holiday mode, but I got to see…

  • My sister’s pain

    My sister’s pain

    A few weeks ago, I posted about being interviewed for a new podcast called Chronically Empowered.  About the same time, I did what I guess most people would do: humble-brag.  I sent the link to my parents and two younger sisters, saying something like “I’ve started this blog where I’m…

  • Winning, even when dreams don’t come true

    Winning, even when dreams don’t come true

    A while ago I wrote about the Boston Marathon and Mount Everest being common (im)possible dreams. I noted in that post that my neurologist had done the Boston Marathon (I think), and that my friend and I ‘mostly’ made it up the Nepalese mountain to reach Annapurna base camp, when…

  • Vincent van Gogh’s pain

    Vincent van Gogh’s pain

    There are rumors going around the internet that several ‘alternative’ artists from the past, suffered from migraines with visual-auras. We’ll never know for sure, but I’m skeptical that an artist could have migraines on a regular basis, and no one would record them as being ‘poorly’ in their biographical notes.…

  • Ghosting, coasting, or boasting: chronic-pain-friends (PART 1)

    Ghosting, coasting, or boasting: chronic-pain-friends (PART 1)

    This post started out VERY long in its first draft.  Whilst I try to do my best to minimize how much I write in one go, (because I’m trying to save my pain-brain and yours too much effort), the issue of chronic-pain-friends is a subject that really deserves a decent…

  • Breakfast for Dinner

    Breakfast for Dinner

    When I was growing up, our family aimed to have a proper sit-down dinner 6 nights a week.  My father would come home, we’d each sit in our regular spots at the dinner table, and as we ate, my sisters and I would recount what we’d done that day, what…

  • Chronically Empowered Podcast

    Chronically Empowered Podcast

    This morning, I experienced a full-on jump-scare moment. I opened up LinkedIn while I was having my morning half-cup of coffee, ready to read through what other people had posted last night while I slept, and… OH! There was my chitty-chatty face chitty-chatting away in a video clip! You see,…

  • Tarot cards for pain

    Tarot cards for pain

    When I was at university, in my early twenties, I lived in a big share house.  I can’t remember what prompted us, but one of my friends and I began to practice telling fortunes.  She got very good at remembering what all the cards in the Tarot deck meant, whilst…