Just Keep Swimming — Janneke Phung

The pain started in my teen years, and unbeknownst to me at the time, it would become a close companion for many years to come. Yet despite this persistent chronic pain, it took well over a decade to receive a formal diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Living with…

When I was in my mid-to-late teens, I started noticing that pain was a regular part of my life. I have memories of a shoebox full of prescription medication beside my bed — some to treat the various pains I was experiencing and others to manage the side effects.

“I’m leaving a generous one-star review because I paid $48 only to be told by the doctor that I should drink more water. My headaches have been frequent. I expected more — at the very least, a prescription for pain relief. How humiliating. This visit was a waste of my…

Last in a series. Read part one. “Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear hardship today.” — Thich Nhat Hanh Hope was hard to come by when I was…

First in a series. I grew up in a Christian home. I attended church every Sunday and knew the answers to most of the questions in Sunday school. I felt like I rated pretty high as a faithful follower of Jesus Christ. I knew, in theory, that God is good.

“Oh, my goodness, am I having a heart attack?” It was just after 1 a.m. I had felt achy in my ribs and chest area for several nights in a row, but this was something altogether different. The pain was sharp and severe. Breathing hurt so bad…

It was a Saturday afternoon in October 2019. While I was the mom of three active young boys, sadly, it wasn’t unusual for me to be resting in bed at that time of day. I remember the moment vividly, because it was when I received a life-changing call from our…

Do you like camping? I do. However, my love for camping (read: my attitude) was tested this spring. We had just backed our minivan — which was packed to the rafters with kids and gear — into our campsite for the weekend. We started unloading it but soon realized that…

Without Facebook, my spine would likely be fused and, almost certainly, my quality of life wouldn’t be what it is today. But I hate giving it so much credit for my current well-being. Clearly, I have a love-hate relationship with social media. In 2019, when I was in the early…

“How in the world did we get so unlucky?!” I couldn’t believe that our fourth mattress in a year appeared to be another dud. Shortly after this disappointing occurrence, I had a revelation: The mattresses weren’t the problem. I was. At the time, ankylosing spondylitis (AS) was a new…

Four years ago, I was living in the throes of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Health professionals told me my pain stemmed from an autoimmune disease that was best treated with biologics. At that time, I would have laughed at you (or more realistically, gotten angry with you) if you’d…