Scleroderma and the Ordinary Girl

It’s a Simple Life with Scleroderma and Me

Life certainly is complicated, isn’t it? Over countless cups of tea with friends, I get to hear all about tricky mega-deals tangling big corporations, complex staffing issues, and legal wrangles with contracts. My friends have full and intricate working days and deal with perplexing problems at the…

Scleroderma Penetrates My Dreams

Since childhood, I have had a wonderful reoccurring dream in which I fly around a town on a magic carpet. The carpet arrives and hovers around knee height, waiting for me to climb aboard. I get on, lie on my stomach, and hold the edges while…

I’m Learning to Stand Scleroderma Strong

I want to write about a strange little topic today that some may find uncomfortable to read. I am sure it is a theme that those without a serious disease also can identify with, but I think that being chronically unwell can magnify the entire matter.

Can Sacred Places Be Healing Spaces?

I notice that something happens whenever I feel unwell and overwhelmed by my disease and the life challenges it brings. During these times, I get the overwhelming urge to run away. There is a particular place to which I escape. Spending some time there…

When It Is OK to Say, ‘I Can’t’

There is a phrase that gets me going every time it is offered up to me. It drives me nuts. It usually happens when I am trying to explain why I cannot do something that entails using a part of my body that scleroderma has permanently…

Coping with My Scleroderma Soul Fatigue

Not so many years ago, around the time of my diagnosis, I recall having a major hissy fit. I had been invited to a wedding, and I didn’t like how I looked that day. My hair wasn’t right, and I just didn’t like the way my…