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Life with chronic illness is a constant game of comparison. I either compare myself with my healthy peers, or with other medically complex young people. Recently, I’ve found someone new to compare myself with: the healthy version of me that lives in a parallel universe. I’m currently responding well to…

For the past three years of my life, August has been one of the most stressful months of the year. For others, August often is the beginning of that weird time between summer and fall. But for teachers like me, it’s the start of a new school year. From…

Living amid a pandemic can and should be alarming to everyone. However, not everyone understands how individual actions can affect others. Therefore, people with compromised immune systems, such as those of us with myasthenia gravis, may be more susceptible to heightened levels of anxiety and frustration toward those not…

Doctors’ appointments aren’t among my favorite activities, but they are necessary when weird symptoms occur. Before I had myasthenia gravis (MG), doctors’ appointments were rare for me. Except for physicals for school, I didn’t go that often. I could claim this was because of my sterling health record before MG,…

There is no shame in spending time on something that didn’t work out the way we had planned, regardless of how long we spent on it. At some point, those of us with myasthenia gravis (MG) will probably endure periods of forced rest, our plans won’t play out as…

Pain is a big part of my life. I have been in daily pain for the last 10 years. The only medical reason I have for it is myasthenia gravis (MG). I highly value science. When I was diagnosed in 2013, there was still little evidence online that pain was…

While I have never been the most athletic person in the world, I’ve always enjoyed playing various sports. I am a veteran of top leagues, including YMCA basketball and Little League softball. I dabbled in volleyball and had a long, two-day career in track. But as I’ve grown up…

Throughout my thymectomy recovery, I am learning that we need to accept help when we need it, even if our lives aren’t precisely what we’d imagined. Consider that we want to keep growing into the most whole version of our potential selves. In that case, we have to…

I started working as a speech therapist at a large academic hospital in January 2020. I was excited to start, and my passion for the job was coming out of my ears. But lurking behind the joy of getting such a thrilling job was a buildup of anxiety, shame, guilt,…

For most of my life, I’ve been wary of meditation, which involves various mind exercises that help to build happiness and shrink stress. Perhaps I could blame my negative attitude about meditation on other factors, such as how it’s portrayed on TV. In reality, I never took the time…