We went to a great farmer’s market, where J got me a ceviche tostada that had to be tasted to be believed. I got a… Read More »Move slowly, stay happy… except when pushing one and a half to two inches straight down on the lower half of the sternum
When I’m out in the world, my reflex is to shove grief into a bundle and push it aside, and try to act as if… Read More »T’ai chi and emotional pain
I was a Registered Nurse for 8 years — in one of the first HIV specialist units in the country, in the only public ER… Read More »Define “invasive”
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome is the latest in a long line of names for this disease. Some of the older names have been recast to… Read More »Acute pain, chronic brain, and naming this ratfink disease
We visited our favorite hot springs last week. There’s a hot pool that’s very hot indeed. When I alternate between that and the cold pool,… Read More »Being clear about being grateful
It took roughly three weeks to recover from the move. For much of that time, everything was bathed in a whitish sheen, and getting more… Read More »Getting the important things settled
In 1986, the course of neurologic treatment changed forever when Mark Block, one severely spine-injured young man, chose “imp-possible” over “impossible” and, every day, spent… Read More »Imaginative experience and rebuilding the brain
My pain psychologist is very insistent that 90% of my day has to be predictable. This allows my nervous system to heal and re-stabilize to… Read More »Relentless
For weeks, I could hardly move outside without injury. It was maddening. I completely ran out of arnica pills, my best tool for keeping soft-tissue… Read More »Marathon update
There’s an impressive clinical word for “feeling yucky” — it’s “dysphoria.” It’s literally the opposite of “euphoria.” One of these people is Dysphoric and one… Read More »Need more than "Dysphoria"