Author Archives: Amy Baker

“What do you do for a living?” Ahh, one of the most common questions asked upon meeting new people. I dread this moment. Do I tell them what I used to do? I was a marketing director, recruiter, and human resource machine. All of those titles sound decent. So, which…

I wonder if the “old Amy” thinks of me as much as I think of her. I miss her terribly. She seemed to slip away from me without me even saying goodbye. My heart aches for who she was and who I am now becoming. I didn’t ask for any…

How do you measure success and self-worth? It may be a simple question for some, but for those who suffer from chronic autoimmune diseases such as scleroderma, the answer often becomes quite complex. Like many other adults, I used to measure my success and self-worth by my…

“Get out of bed … now!” Are you kidding me? Getting out of bed would take forever. “Time waits for no one. Embrace the suck, Amy.” Stop yelling at me! I’m getting there. (And by getting there, I mean lying there not moving, with hot, silent tears rolling down my…

The clock ticked loudly as the phones rang in unison with a ticking timepiece that was getting on my nerves. I wondered how long my appointment would take. Sitting in the doctor’s office had become second nature to me. Yet, I was ready to be done with…

My fellow chronic illness warriors: You’ve never met me, but we’ve sat alone in the darkness apart yet together. Those of us who suffer from conditions like scleroderma have a higher risk of developing mental health issues. As someone who has multiple autoimmune diseases, I, too, have…

“Don’t worry. This will feel like a pinch.” Sitting in the sterile room with a tourniquet wrapped tightly around my arm, I stared intently at the legion of vials awaiting filling. The pinch did not feel like a pinch; it was more like a bee sting. As the lab…