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It's winter : It's 2018 : And I'm Trying to Get out of this 40-something GenX Woman With Disability Rut

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On my last job application I was asked if I have a disability . I reeled. For a lot of reasons. Shock: Wait. This is me I’m talking about. Fear: If I am disabled now, but no one knows without me telling them, then what does this mean? (Unreasonable)Reason: Maybe if I claim this disability it will increase my chances of getting the job. Fear: What if I’ve just given them ammunition for discrimination. Reality-check: Black people can’t hide being black – which is not considered a disability , but is very much a subject of discrimination... Arrogance: Well it’s not AIDS or cancer. That’s in my favor. Perspective: Maybe someone with AIDS or cancer is thinking, “At least it’s not MS?” Humility: Why should I be any less prone to a disability than anyone else? Fear: What if my chances have nothing to do with MS, and everything to do with my professional merit? Maybe this is the part where we are only given what we can handle in life… but I swear to God nobo...
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Science Can't Determine Everything - But It Can Help

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Yesterday I telecommuted from vacation, to my second meeting with the MS Mediterranean diet group. My top two reasons for participating in this study: I have spent the longer portion of my adult life knowing that consumption is critical to wellness, but putting off my departure from sugar and saturated fats. This knowledge is experiential – observational – anecdotal, and something that I have discovered in my personal journey through a death-defying car accident – the premature loss of my mother – acupuncture – pollution – disease – global warming. This is something that American science has been slow to acknowledge, and struggles to substantiate. When my neurologist told me about the study, I was eager to participate. It might help . At our first meeting, Dr. Katz Sand explained why she started this study – because many of her MS patients, and those of her colleagues, ask what they can do other than comply with the prescribed medical treatment, to manage the disease t...
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And So It Begins

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On September 7th I took the train to my doctor’s office at the Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center in New York for my first meeting with a nutritionist, a neurologist, and 4 other women who have relapsing remitting MS. Bottom line: no dairy – no meat other than fish – no refined sugars – limited sodium. No eating for 12-hours a day.  Eggs are fine.  Coffee is fine. I’m calling it the Pesceggatarian (pess-keg-uh-tair-ee-uhn) diet. They are calling it the Multiple Sclerosis Mediterranean Diet. On day one I was pretty much hungry all day, but into the challenge – although I was unprepared... Halfway through day two, I was  Gollum  and cheese was my precious. During days three through five I was mostly hangry but figuring it out. Yesterday I was hungry a lot, but nourished and easily sated. It’s day seven. I slept for eleven or twelve hours last night. I feel like my vision is sharper than it has been in years. I’m not cra...
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