My daughter plopped down on the couch after her fifth-grade promotion party and said, "You owe me."
"For what?" I asked.
"There were super fancy cookies at the party today, but my teacher said I couldn't eat them because of my food allergies."
Drat.
"Didn't they serve something different for you?" I asked. She said they also served popsicles, and everyone was allowed to eat as many as they wanted — but she doesn't like popsicles.
Double drat.
The look on her face reminded me of the day she graduated from preschool: Another mom brought in cute little cupcakes decorated with a graduation cap made from a peanut butter cup. My girl couldn't have those either due to her food allergies, so her teacher gave her a handful of gummy bears instead. [More]

A few months ago, my hair stylist asked me if I was dating anyone. I've been single for the last five years because I've found, like many of you, dating with a chronic illness is no easy task. I was upfront in my dating app profiles about being disabled due to multiple chronic illnesses. It turns out having a complex medical history is not seen as an attractive quality among men searching for a mate. Also, it goes without saying that having a stockpile of pharmaceuticals in my house made me very cautious about bringing anyone new into my life. I certainly didn't advertise to the single dating pool that I suffer from chronic pain. According to the current statistics from the National Center for Drug Abuse, 22 percent of males and 17 percent of females used illegal drugs or misused prescription drugs within the last year. So, the risk of attracting a person with the worst of intentions is real when chronically ill. [More]

I really don’t like spending my money on things I don’t use (do you?), so I cancelled my gym membership. Back when time and money was my own, spending them both at the gym was easy. But after getting married and starting a family, and especially now that I work full time and juggle older kids with expensive activities and crazy schedules, I am busier than ever, and time and money are not my own and are both stretched very thin. It wasn’t an easy decision. I know how important exercise is for good health, and moving my body consistently is a great stress reliever that helps me keep my autoimmune disease in check. [More]

Imagine this: It’s Friday night after a brutally busy week at work, you’re battling a flare-up of your autoimmune disease and you’re completely wiped out. You just pulled on a pair of sweats and are toying with ordering take out and eating it in bed when your phone beeps to remind you that a new friend’s informal little birthday bash starts in an hour. What would you do? [More]

Kids often surprise us parents, but we don't often think about them teaching us a life lesson. In fact, as parents, we often delude ourselves into thinking we are the smart ones. But as a parent who was thoroughly schooled by her teenage daughter, let me tell you, we can learn from our kids. [More]

When starting the home training process for subcutaneous immune globulin (SCIG) administration, the nursing service is very clear that patients should plan on administering their weekly SCIG when someone is home with them in case of a reaction. This is a doable plan for those who are married or have others who live with them. But in my case, I live alone. However, I wasn’t going to allow the fact that I live alone stop me from transitioning to SCIG, so I decided to take advantage of an interest-free payment option from my wireless carrier and invest in an Apple watch. [More]

Do you remember navigating those fun houses with mazes of glass hallways and mirrors at the state fairs of our youth? When I think about the 12 years it took to get my rare disease diagnosis, it reminds me of those fun houses — only it was not so fun. [More]

As a teen, I idolized Princess Diana and was devastated when she died. As a mom of three young boys at the time, and having grown up without my own mom, I knew all too well the devastation her young sons were feeling. All I kept thinking was: Those poor boys. With the news of Prince Harry’s autobiography Spare being released in January, I pre-ordered a copy and cleared my reading calendar. Even so, I was completely unprepared for the emotions I experienced when I read it. [More]

Recently, I saw a specialist after I began experiencing symptoms I didn’t want to talk about, let alone write about. He did some poking, prodding and testing, and declared nothing was wrong. But, he did prescribe medication, as well as instructed me to reduce the stress in my life. [More]

Ah, the sounds of summer! Frogs ribbiting, the “Ice Cream Man” song tinkling in the distance, crickets chirping, squeaky crutches…. Crutches! What in the world do crutches have to do with the cheerful sounds of summer? [More]

By Tammie Allegro Caregiver? I had never really embraced this term until my mother’s terminal illness thrust me into the role. I guess we all need to give ourselves a title that somehow explains what we do, but “caregiver” never seemed to cover it completely. For starters, a ca... [More]

When I got my dog, Ginger, she was a tiny brown and white fluff, barely eight weeks old. A surprise gift from a family member, she was not the kind of dog I’d planned on. What on earth, I wondered, was a Shih-Tzu? [More]

Remember the movie John Q. in which Denzel Washington plays the father of a young boy who takes a downtown Chicago emergency room hostage when he learns that the heart transplant his son needs won’t be performed because his health insurance doesn’t cover it? [More]

Families dealing with a chronic disease live with a lot of medical paraphernalia. Between treatments, however, many of those same families long to appear, “normal.” They don’t want the look of a sterile medical environment; they simply want their home to be sterile. [More]

For much of my life, I never gave much thought to choosing doctors. Often I simply picked a name at random from an insurance directory. But, when I suddenly found myself suffering from mysterious pelvic pain 10 years ago, I quickly discovered that finding a physician who could provide an accurate diagnosis was not just difficult, it was next to impossible. [More]

By Tammie Allegro When you meet a 17-year-old who says he was raised in captivity, it gives you pause. You might even wonder what on earth the kid is talking about. However, when you learn that this particular young man has been sheltered and home-schooled since kindergarten due to his autoimmune ... [More]