Retha De Wet,  —

is a patient columnist from sunny South Africa. When she’s not writing, she is practicing as a speech therapist. Diagnosed with myasthenia gravis just around her twentieth birthday, she has been through several treatment options since then and has been classified as refractory. She hopes her column will encourage its readers to look for the good in life and always keep fighting. She loves her dog an irrational amount and is always willing to share pictures of him.

Articles by Retha De Wet

A Letter to the Newly Diagnosed Myasthenic

No one will ever fully understand what you go through, but I am pretty sure you have figured that out already. People are going to surprise you in the best and worst of ways, but you will grow from it. Unfortunately, you have been dealt a poor hand of health —…

How My Port Empowered Me

Medical science is ever evolving. There are more diseases being discovered, advances in medical technology, and changes in perceptions of medications and their effects on the human body. Humanity has definitely come a long way since believing that drilling a hole in a patient’s skull would rid them of evil…

The Joy of Being Alive

I was never gifted with numbers, but I always felt confident when it came to languages. When my emotions are too overwhelming to comprehend, I look for answers in written work, or I simply start writing down how I feel. It helps me deal with big emotions and determine why I…

The Value of the Good Doctor

The first thing I was forced to learn very quickly after falling ill is that doctors are only human. It does not matter if they are specialists, general practitioners, or retired; human nature is bound to catch up with them at some stage. As we all know, human nature is…