I’ve never been hospitalized for more than a day, but I have spent a fair amount of time visiting others. Even though it’s sometimes hard to show up, I always make an effort. The last thing I want is for my people to feel abandoned when they are coping with…
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I enjoy the holiday season, especially Christmas celebrations. As my siblings and other family members were born in Poland — I am the only one born in the U.S. — we follow a traditional Polish Christmas, holding most of the festivities on Christmas Eve, or Wigilia. Special foods are…
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a little-known, complex, and misunderstood rare disease. I hadn’t heard of it before my diagnosis at the tender age of 28, just over three years ago. Learning to live with a fatal lung disease as a young adult is one of the hardest things I’ve…
In December, I wrote a column about slowly emerging from a month of being sick with pneumonia and the flu. I shared the importance of doing our best as patients living with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) to stay away from those who are sick, and why common illnesses…
While preparing for my family to visit at Christmastime, I was reminded of when my mom, Holly, was discharged from the hospital after her double-lung transplant. We had to make adaptations to make our rented apartment a safe environment for her. She had been in…
These past six weeks have been difficult as I continue to recover from a horrible ordeal with both pneumonia and influenza. While I’ll never know how I came into contact with these viruses, I’ve become paranoid about touching surfaces such as grocery cart handles and doorknobs because of my…
I’ve held three full-time jobs in my career, each averaging about 40 hours per week. I’ve never tracked the number of hours I spend managing my chronic illness, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they equate to a full-time workweek. Since being diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) three years ago,…
As I move through the seasons of this year, I can’t help but feel the imprint of the events and emotions of last year. I keep comparing moments from now to this time one year ago. There are many unofficial anniversaries that my internal clocks have kept. As we…
When I was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) three years ago, I had never heard of the disease. I was told that it was rare. Even rarer, my doctors said, was my diagnosis at 28. They had considered IPF when first looking for answers for my breathlessness,…
I try to practice gratitude every day. The word “practice” is appropriate. Viewing daily trials through a lens of gratitude did not come to me by instinct or inheritance. I started doing it several years ago to try and force myself out of a funk. Writing down something that I…
