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Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt

It might be the sick child who lets loose a massive sneeze, uncovered, in a crowded elevator or a physician who is sick him- or herself and still sees patients —  one thing that truly irks me is someone who will go out among others when they are contagiously sick.  Believe me, there’s no “glory”…

I’m sorry I missed them: August 20 was National Honey Bee Day, and August 21 was National Senior Citizens Day. But I thought I’d make up for my omission by reflecting on something that seems to unite those two:  Rare beauty. We’ve read about the plight of honey bee colonies. How something seems to be…

I don’t know anyone who likes their constant life with pain. Given a choice, I’m sure most of us (if not all) would opt for relief – swift relief – from the aches, jabs, and jolts that punctuate our day and often cloud our ability to enjoy life’s more pleasurable pleasures. But, as Christians, we are called…

With each age and stage of living with lupus, I find that there are periods when I have to go back to school. Not a formal sit-at-a-classroom-desk experience, but certainly one where I look at the latest information on studies, treatments, and the ever-evolving “why” of how we develop lupus in the first place. It’s…

Want to hear about heroes? Here in Southern California, another brush fire has erupted. To me, the term “brush fire” is misleading. It brings to my mind something contained and on a small scale. But this fire is anything but. It started yesterday afternoon and within 4 hours had spread to more than 5,000 acres! By…

Does your illness make you feel ugly? How about rethinking beauty? Months before I was diagnosed with lupus, I lost all of my hair. It was difficult to fully understand, yet each time I looked in the mirror, I could see the effects of something at work, changing my appearance and leading me into a completely…

Sometimes, a life punctuated by chronic illness seems like a life out of control. Just when you finish a med or a symptom or flare recedes, wham! Something else happens, and you’re back in that dizzying cycle of doctor-to-pharmacy-to-doctor-to-home. I know well how much of a chronic illness cannot be controlled because of my years…

If you grimaced at the title for this blog post, I’m sure you’re not alone. In the midst of tremendous pain, it can be very easy to push all thought of fun out of our minds. It’s also easy to lose sight of the importance of laughter, humor, or even a small smile – any…

History teaches us many things, but I especially like how it sheds light on how we live and what we feel today. For instance, if you look back at some of the times of great societal upheaval – the American War of Independence, the French Revolution to name two – many began or reached a boiling point…

Sometimes when our illness flares or we experience new symptoms, we turn outward. Was it the weather that brought this on? To much work? Family quarrels? Traffic? But as easy as it would be to blame every flare or symptom on our chronic illness, we know that sometimes we contribute to the situation, too. We…
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