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When I was a child, one of my favorite movies was the 1960 film “Pollyanna.” It is about a sweet and optimistic orphan that comes to live with her wealthy and stoic aunt. In the movie, Pollyanna’s infectious positivity wins over even the most cranky town members. She played a game that she called “The…

Now that I’m back to my former familiar life on TPN, I am revisiting many familiar struggles with social eating. A few years ago I gave a talk at the Oley Annual Meeting. I spent a lot of time organizing my thoughts and got real with all of the struggles anyone with a restricted diet…

When things are going well and life is rolling along with only minor bumps in the road, writing is not a priority. In the heat of a crisis or a major change in health status, writing is not a priority. It is only when there is a major road block, a detour, and I finally…

Before getting sick, I never considered all of the challenges that can arise when traveling with chronic medical needs that require special equipment, tubes, drains, liquid medications, and supplies. My first experience with this was in 2011 when I need to fly to a conference for work, but was still requiring home oxygen. Getting all…

My friend Rachel recently signed-up for the Chicago Marathon and in a text message to me, she said, “2019 will be the year of running!” I really liked that! Now that I am able to fuel body with real delicious food and I am no longer dependent on TPN, I am feeling better than ever!…

A year ago, I would have never imagined how much my life would change in only one year. Family The year started out great with a work conference in Las Vegas followed by a fun trip to the Grand Canyon. During this trip, my mom was home sick. She called me to tell me she…

Just as a little background to put this post into perspective… Prior to getting sick, I had been an avid, yet average recreational runner. After recovering from the initial shock of being sick, I started to get back to real life and running. In 2014, I ran two marathons (San Francisco and St. Jude in…

Last week I went to a running camp. Among runners one of the first questions beyond, “What’s your name?” and “Where are you from?” is “What are you training for?” I found myself telling every new running friend that rather than training for a specific race, I was training to be in the best shape…