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Chronic Healing

How to live despite and beyond chronic illness

Dementia
Cardamom

Alida Brill on August 6, 2014

It’s been the Season of the Lost Minds. A friend realizes she has begun the process of not knowing.

It’s been the Season of the Lost Minds. A friend realizes she has begun the process of not knowing.

Anxiety
You Are Here

Alida Brill on April 1, 2014

Once on a trip to Vermont, my friend and I pulled off the road and into a rest stop. Rest stops in Vermont redefine that concept. I walked over to the map posted on the wall and there was a marker that carried a personal message. You Are Here!

Once on a trip to Vermont, my friend and I pulled off the road and into a rest stop. Rest stops in Vermont redefine that concept. I walked over to the map posted on the wall and there was a marker that carried a personal message. You Are Here!

Resilience
Don't Push the River…

Alida Brill on July 1, 2013

Don’t push the river, it flows by itself—It flows above us and beneath us but in the middle we dance in the moonlight, at the river’s edge.

Don’t push the river, it flows by itself—It flows above us and beneath us but in the middle we dance in the moonlight, at the river’s edge.

Relationships
Where is the Prize?

Alida Brill on December 1, 2012

As a child I was permitted the occasional box of Cracker Jacks/Prize Inside. So, where is that Prize?

As a child I was permitted the occasional box of Cracker Jacks/Prize Inside. So, where is that Prize?

Fear
First: Do No Harm

Alida Brill on August 27, 2012

That phrase is considered traditionally to be a part of the Hippocratic Oath that physician’s take upon becoming doctors, or at least they used to take.

That phrase is considered traditionally to be a part of the Hippocratic Oath that physician’s take upon becoming doctors, or at least they used to take.

Chronic Illness
Notes From The Infusion Room

Alida Brill on January 11, 2012

The day wore on in silence and solitude. The only distractions were the images and ideas that played across my brain's white screen of blankness. I imagined a life where I was just as sick but one in which I belonged to a family. I dreamt I had two children. These fantasies and dreams were seemingly involuntary but were destructive nonetheless.

The day wore on in silence and solitude. The only distractions were the images and ideas that played across my brain's white screen of blankness. I imagined a life where I was just as sick but one in which I belonged to a family. I dreamt I had two children. These fantasies and dreams were seemingly involuntary but were destructive nonetheless.

Relationships
Three Is A Crowd

Alida Brill on May 27, 2011

Thugs are worse than bullies - thugs insist on things going their way and you can't always stare them down or walk away. The other problem with the Thug in my life is that I never know when or how he will choose to show his power.

Thugs are worse than bullies - thugs insist on things going their way and you can't always stare them down or walk away. The other problem with the Thug in my life is that I never know when or how he will choose to show his power.

Relationships
Will You Dance With Me?

Alida Brill on April 27, 2011

The strategies and techniques I've used to manage chronic disease have changed through the years. When fears begin to overwhelm me, I listen to those Suites transcribed for the Double Bass, recorded by the extraordinary artist Edgar Meyer. Dance, especially ballet, also transports me. . .

The strategies and techniques I've used to manage chronic disease have changed through the years. When fears begin to overwhelm me, I listen to those Suites transcribed for the Double Bass, recorded by the extraordinary artist Edgar Meyer. Dance, especially ballet, also transports me. . .

Forgiveness
We Are All Wounded

Alida Brill on January 17, 2011

We are a good people, compassionate, often forgiving and embracing. Yet we are a country once turned upon itself, North against South. Somehow we came back together. The road back to a unified nation wasn't easy, and the remnants still linger, but the war did not result in two countries with border patrols.

We are a good people, compassionate, often forgiving and embracing. Yet we are a country once turned upon itself, North against South. Somehow we came back together. The road back to a unified nation wasn't easy, and the remnants still linger, but the war did not result in two countries with border patrols.

Health
Satisfaction Guarenteed . . . Or Your Money Back!

Alida Brill on December 28, 2010

I considered how ubiquitous our “satisfaction guaranteed” consumer culture was, and took it another step. Is that what we expect in life as well? Do we tend to equate contentment with boredom or psychological paralysis? I don’t know the answers to these questions but they plague me during the holiday season. This year was no exception.

I considered how ubiquitous our “satisfaction guaranteed” consumer culture was, and took it another step. Is that what we expect in life as well? Do we tend to equate contentment with boredom or psychological paralysis? I don’t know the answers to these questions but they plague me during the holiday season. This year was no exception.

Relationships
Just This One Moment, Please . . .

Alida Brill on December 7, 2010

I watched the silken grains of sand as they slipped from the top to the bottom of the cylindrical glass vials. Then I turned them over and began again. As I waited for the one-minute, three-minute, or hour of sand shift from top to bottom, it did not cross my mind the time it represented was lost forever.

I watched the silken grains of sand as they slipped from the top to the bottom of the cylindrical glass vials. Then I turned them over and began again. As I waited for the one-minute, three-minute, or hour of sand shift from top to bottom, it did not cross my mind the time it represented was lost forever.

Beauty
Saving Face

Alida Brill on November 29, 2010

Even if you're feeling your real face has been "lost" to steroids, celebrate your existence this holiday season.

Even if you're feeling your real face has been "lost" to steroids, celebrate your existence this holiday season.

Child Development
The Contingency Plan

Alida Brill on November 18, 2010

Confronted recently by a sudden flare of disease, author Alida Brill was also faced with something else she had not expected. Read more about how to choose friendships that heal not wound. And reflections about why those with chronic conditions do not need to apologize or disappear.

Confronted recently by a sudden flare of disease, author Alida Brill was also faced with something else she had not expected. Read more about how to choose friendships that heal not wound. And reflections about why those with chronic conditions do not need to apologize or disappear.

Wisdom
When Nothing Is Better Than Something

Alida Brill on June 22, 2010

I find it hard to let go of pieces of presumed wisdom I learned as a child, even if they're only phrases or adages. A friend of mine confesses he frequently hears his mother's admonitions--and she has been deceased for years.   

I find it hard to let go of pieces of presumed wisdom I learned as a child, even if they're only phrases or adages. A friend of mine confesses he frequently hears his mother's admonitions--and she has been deceased for years.   

Health
The Toxic Ten

Alida Brill on April 22, 2010

 Chronic disease is an intruder in many of our lives. I have had an inflammatory autoimmune disease since childhood. Sometimes people ask me how I've managed to live with it.  But then, there are the other comments--the ones that press my impatience button: what I call The Toxic Ten!  

 Chronic disease is an intruder in many of our lives. I have had an inflammatory autoimmune disease since childhood. Sometimes people ask me how I've managed to live with it.  But then, there are the other comments--the ones that press my impatience button: what I call The Toxic Ten!  

Health
I AM ME!

Alida Brill on June 8, 2009

 A SUGGESTED RX FOR LIVING ABOVE AND BEYOND THE REALITY OF  CHRONIC DISEASE

 A SUGGESTED RX FOR LIVING ABOVE AND BEYOND THE REALITY OF  CHRONIC DISEASE