I didn’t realize it at the time, but at the end of December, I wrote my 700th post on this site. I launched Living with Scleroderma on January 3, 2012, and have been posting nearly every week since, with time off for good behavior when on vacation. That’s a lot of posts. While there always […]

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Nights here have been clear and cold, and the moon is waxing brightly. As I write on Monday morning, I’m anticipating tonight’s stunning view, when the moon will be full, a huge silver plate in the sky—that is, until 12:44 a.m. Tuesday morning, when a two-hour total lunar eclipse will begin. As the moon passes […]

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Prepping vegetables for meals is one of those tasks that I often find challenging. I need to wear latex gloves when I cook so I don’t infect my finger ulcers, and this makes handling food difficult, because my fingers have been shortened by both resorption and surgery, so the tips of the gloves always flop […]

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Over the past year, I have been seeing a nurse practitioner at the Wound Center at our local hospital. She is absolutely brilliant, creative, and a great, empathetic listener—as are other members of her team. And she has introduced me to a number of wound care products that have made a significant difference in how […]

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As I was writing just now, I realized that I am typing with only my pinkies these days, with my thumbs handling the space bar. (Using an Apple keyboard makes this possible, because it requires only a very light touch.) Usually I also use my right ring finger, but it’s been out of commission for […]

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Recently, a young boy was studying my fingers. “Why do you have so many bandages?” he asked. “I have problems with my hands,” I answered. For a pre-schooler, that seemed the appropriate explanation. He looked concerned, or perhaps afraid. “You don’t have fingernails,” he said. “No, I don’t,” I said. Not exactly true. I have […]

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It’s taken nine months, but the ulcer on my left ring finger has finally healed—for now. I must add the caveat, because I never know when the skin will deteriorate again. But for now, it feels great to be out of bandages on that finger. Last January, it became infected, I lost the nail and […]

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There are a lot of reasons to complain about the heat this summer—too much, too humid, too risky. But there is also one big blessing for me: my finger ulcers are healing. In particular, the left ring finger ulcer that I’ve been nursing since January through a lost nail and several rounds of antibiotics is […]

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I’ve had some sewing projects in mind for months—in particular, a dress that I sewed up last summer in a test fabric that I liked so much, I’ve been wearing it on hot days. It would look lovely and feel great in a very soft purple cotton blend that I’ve had in my fabric stash […]

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I’ve been thinking a lot about my posture, lately. Back in May, after I performed a scene from The Glass Menagerie as the culmination of my spring adult acting class, I watched a video of same and was dismayed to see how stooped I’ve become. Some of this is just due to aging, loss of […]

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