This year,
more than ever, was full of highs and lows.
A lot
happened, but the most significant thing that happened this year is that my dad
died suddenly and tragically as a result of massive flooding in Michigan:
I
started writing letters to my dad:
I had some
amazing opportunities come my way…
I
got to talk about issues of chronic illness in higher education in new venues:
I
went to conferences:
I
was quoted in a major magazine:
My blog was named one of
the best lupus blogs:
I started a job as a
patient advocate in a hospital, and in general, struggled with balance:
And of
course, the ever-present insurance and doctor woes:
Of course,
this isn’t all of the posts I wrote in 2014, and I’m leaving some good ones
out, but I looked for major themes and that’s what I included here.
Feel free
to go through all 47 of them, if you really want to.
And don’t
forget to see what I’ve written at other sites (the links below are directly to
my pieces), many posts of which include similar themes to the ones on my
personal blog:
*****
Every
year, I also share the books I’ve read over the past year.
This year,
I really hit a slump when my dad died, so I didn’t have the chance to read as much
as I usually do. So if you’re curious,
here’s what I’ve read:
1. “Philomena” by Martin
Sixsmith (NF)
2. “Chronic Resilience” by
Danea Horn (NF)*
3. “The Sky Is Everywhere”
by Jandy Nelson (F)
4. “Illness as Metaphor and
AIDS and Its Metaphors” by Susan Sontag (NF)*^
5. “Intoxicated By My
Illness” by Anatole Broyard (NF)*^
6. “The Diving Bell and the
Butterfly” by Jean-Dominique Bauby (NF)*^
7. “Stitches” by David
Small (NF)*^
8. “The First Phone Call
From Heaven” by Mitch Albom (F)
9. “Mom’s Cancer” by Brian
Fies (NF)*^
10. “First Love” by James
Patterson (and Emily Raymond) (F)
11. “The Widow’s Guide to
Sex and Dating” by Carol Radziwell (F)
12. “Autobiography of a
Face” by Lucy Grealy (NF)*^
13. “The Spirit Catches You
and You Fall Down” by Anne Fadiman (NF)*^
14. “NYPD RED 2” by James
Patterson (and Marshall Karp) (F)
15. “The Cancer Journals” by
Audre Lord (NF)*^
16. “The Autobiography of
Vivian” by Vivian Livingston (F)
17. “Vivian Lives” by Vivian
Livingston (F)
18. “Unlucky 13” by James
Patterson (and Maxine Paetro) (F)
19. “The Big Girls” by
Susanna Moore (F)
20. “Wonder” by R.J. Palacio (F)*
21. “The Fault In Our Stars”
by John Green (F)* (I re-read this after I saw the movie, which I must say was
a very good adaptation from the book, and one of the saddest movies I have ever
seen)
22. “Vivian: The ‘V’ Spot”
by Vivian Livingston (F)
23. “We Are Water” by Wally Lamb (F)
24. “Invisible” by James
Patterson (and David Ellis) (F)
25. “Happens Every Day” by
Isabel Gillies (NF)
26. “A Year and Six Seconds”
by Isabel Gillies (NF)
27. “This Star Won’t Go Out”
by Esther Earl (NF)*
28. “Night Film” by Marisha
Pessl (F)
29. “Conducting Research
Literature Reviews” by Arlene Fink (NF)^
30. “The Nine” by Jeffrey
Toobin (NF)^
31. “Transforming Traumatic
Grief” by Courtney Armstrong (NF)
32. “Footprints of Courage” by Jan Jenkins (NF)
33. “Burn” by James Patterson
(and Michael Ledwidge) (NF)
34. “Laughing At My
Nightmare” by Shane Burcaw (NF)**
35. “Lights, Camera, Lupus”
by Amanda Rupley (NF)**
36. “Designing and Managing
Programs” by Peter Kettner, Robert Moroney, and Lawrence Martin (NF)^
37. “The Death of Bees” by
Lisa O’Donnell (F)
(F) –
Fiction
(NF) –
Non-fiction
*
Books specifically of interest to chronically ill readers
^
Academic books/books for school/my research/dissertation
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