Columns

I’ve cooked macaroni and cheese for most of my life, and for much of that time, I boiled the pasta in plain water because that’s just how folks did it. It was one of those handed‑down habits — like snapping beans on the porch or keeping a dishpan under the…

For years, I planned my mornings the way a conductor plans a train schedule — tight, tidy, and divided into neat 30‑minute blocks. 8-8:30 a.m.: Rid up. 8:30-9 a.m.: Vacuum the living room, dining room, kitchen, and pantry. 9-9:30 a.m.: Tackle whatever needed to be done next. It worked because…

There are nights, especially as we get older, when sleep feels less like a deep lake and more like the shallow end of a creek — the place where you lie back, but your ears stay above water, catching every ripple and rustle around you. You drift, but you don’t…

Anyone with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) knows that getting started can be the hardest part of the day. There’s a kind of friction — physical, mental, emotional — that makes the first steps feel heavier than they used to. Routines reduce that friction. When a sequence becomes familiar,…

Some days the body whispers; other days it hollers. Mine hollered this week. What it said, I did not want to hear. “It’s one thing a day for a while.” As a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) advocate, I knew that this time might come. I woke up with…

When I was a girl, I begged my father to let me keep a disabled biddy. The chicken was tiny, off‑balance, and needed more help than the others. I promised him I’d take care of it. I meant it with all the sincerity a child can muster. But…

Living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) means learning to measure your energy the way other people measure ingredients. Every chore, errand, and meal asks for a little breath, strength, and stamina, and some days, you simply don’t have much to spare. Over the years, I’ve learned that the…

Note: This column describes the author’s experiences with Voltaren. Not everyone will have the same response to treatment. Consult your doctor before starting or stopping a therapy. There’s a particular kind of pain that settles low in the back, right over those little dimples on each side of the spine.

Portable oxygen is a marvel of modern medicine, but anyone who carries it knows it comes with limitations that don’t show up in the brochures. The ads always feature someone strolling through life with a sleek device slung over their shoulder, smiling as if nothing has changed. But real life…

Some mornings in these mountains start with a heaviness I can feel before I even swing my feet out of bed. Not the heaviness of sorrow, though life hands us plenty of that, but the heaviness of breath. The kind that tells me my lungs are already negotiating with…