Scleroderma and the Ordinary Girl — Kim Tocker

The other weekend, Max and I went away and I made a brave step regarding my struggle to stay active (or not) while living with scleroderma. There are many people who have instructed me to try things that I knew wouldn’t work for me…

As Christmas approaches, I always become rather nostalgic. It marks the end of another year, and despite trying not to, I tend to look back to the same time last year and note how my health has further declined thanks to scleroderma. This process always begins…

Systemic scleroderma is a rare disease. According to the Cleveland Clinic, its annual incidence is only about 20 cases per 1 million adults in the United States.  I have experienced many medical professionals who acknowledge they have heard of scleroderma, but know…

While scrolling through my Facebook page the other day, I came across someone’s post that read, “If you had to wear a warning label, what would yours read?” I thought quite hard about the question, because as someone who lives with scleroderma,…

There is a certain type of person I have encountered on my scleroderma journey. These individuals just cannot control their compulsion to share ideas about why I have scleroderma. Unfortunately, they annoyingly continue to pop up occasionally in my life with their theories…

With the passing of Halloween last week and my mind turning to all things nightmarish, I have noticed that living  with systemic scleroderma could be referred to as a “horror movie.” This particular Halloween, scleroderma didn’t fail me in terms of providing its own ugly…

I’ve always been a highly sensitive person, even prior to getting scleroderma. So, I’m not a big movie fan, as I get distressed at the violent, misogynist, and twisted thinking that seems to go into the production of many of the cinematic offerings available these days.

Scleroderma is often a progressive disease, unless someone is fortunate enough to go into remission. For me, remission is but a distant dream. I have even experienced a progression in a number of my symptoms as of late. Particularly, I’ve had increased…

There is a very good case to be made for aiming for the stars. I am all for people setting amazing goals and then managing to achieve them. I see it often in the media — those extraordinary individuals who are able to overcome adversity and…

Every morning I am woken early by my husband, Max, brandishing a cup of tea and some toast. My body is always stiff, sore and swollen. I am unable to do very much until I’ve eaten something so I can take my pain relief medications.

Living with scleroderma means constant cycles of specialist consultations, and I like to keep a diary to document each visit. While updating my dairy, I started to think about everything I’ve learned from my tenuous relationship with the medical profession. Especially since I had to…

Stiff, bent, inflamed-jointed fingers do not do the best job of getting my shoes on, even though I have no open wounds from calcinosis or ulcers at the moment. Grappling with shoelaces is not easy with my scleroderma fingers, and bending over to…