Columns

Note: This column describes the author’s own experiences with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) infusions. Not everyone will have the same response to treatment. Consult your doctor before starting or stopping a therapy. The week, after my cousin’s wedding, I had an intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) infusion scheduled — and thank…

“Failure is not an option. Winning and learning are the options.” I don’t know who said that quote, though it’s been attributed (with slightly different grammar) to the neurologist and writer Debasish Mridha. But it often inspires me in life. There are so many things I’ve yet to do, but…

Note: This column describes the author’s own experiences with various alternative therapies. Not everyone will have the same response to these methods. Consult your doctor before starting or stopping a therapy. During a myasthenia gravis flare-up in 2019, just before the COVID-19 pandemic, I completely lost the ability to…

Grief’s companion is pain. But in that pain, we can find richness. Holding my mother’s hand as she took her last breath was incredibly painful, but also one of the finest moments of my life. I was able to be with her as she exited this world, just as she…

A week ago, I packed up my cane, wheelchair, and excitement and hit the road for a cousin’s wedding. It was a six-hour drive each way, the kind of road trip that used to feel impossible when my myasthenia gravis (MG) was more unpredictable. But now that we’re settled…

Yoga expert Vanda Scaravelli once said, “Movement is the song of the body.” Every person has a rhythm when they walk, move, or use mannerisms to communicate. Since my twin brother, Aaron, was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis (MG) in 1999 at 24 years old, his rhythms have looked a…

I discovered my love of cooking when I was 12. While I enjoyed every part of my learning journey, my mom didn’t fully trust me in her kitchen, so I didn’t get to cook very often. I still live with her, so cooking for me is a rare occasion, which…

I’m not the first guy to discover that myasthenia gravis (MG) deserves membership in the select group known as invisible illnesses. Lately, I’ve been thinking about the impact that life with such an illness has on a person’s emotional health. I don’t want to end up in a dismal spot.

During a recent weekend, I did something special: I took my son’s girlfriend out for her very first pedicure as a birthday present. It was a treat for her — and for me. It was my first pedicure since my myasthenia gravis (MG) diagnosis in 2018. With MG, trying…

I started traveling as a backpacker when I was 19 years old, back in the 1990s. I spent a semester studying in London in 1997. As a naive kid from the South Bronx in New York City, I found it mind-blowing to be in countries where people spoke English but…