New favorite analogy from The Daily Show moment of Zen earlier this week: COVID is to wildfire as hantavirus is to a wet log in a cold fireplace.
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/05/13/one-liner-wednesday-an-oldie/ (Sorry that I couldn’t find the proper citation.)
One of the many things about which I have to be careful is the use of contrast with CT or MRI scans.
We think the reason is that my kidney function is kind of flaky and the contrast agents are hard on kidneys.
The wild card is that my kidneys may be stressed because of a vascular problem related to my hEDS. I have an appointment with a specialist in NYC later this month to investigate.
Stay tuned…
*****
Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “contrast.” Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/05/08/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-may-9-2026/
May is EDS & HSD Awareness Month and I promised to do some posts on it. I had hoped to get this first post out earlier in the month but I’m having some difficulties with an hEDS flare, which has slowed me down a bit.
Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder (HSD) are heritable connective tissue disorders. There are 13 types of EDS. In 12 of those types, the exact genetic cause has been identified. Some of these types are very rare, affecting less than one in a million people. The most common form of EDS is hypermobile (hEDS), which is known to be inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern but appears to have a more complex genetic profile. The prevalence of hEDS is unknown because it is very often missed diagnostically. Case in point, I was diagnosed at age 65.
HSD is related to hEDS, usually involving fewer hypermobile joints than most people with hEDS. While some clinicians and researchers look at HSD and hEDS as separate disroders, others look at hEDS as occupying a certain segment of the hypermobile spectrum. In December, 2026, updated diagnostic criteria will be published, with best practices to follow in spring ’27. It will be interesting to see if hEDS and HSD will be merged into a single diagnosis.
One of the difficulties with obtaining a diagnosis with EDS or HSD is that they present in different ways in different individuals and can vary with age. All forms of EDS/HSD affect connective tissue, making it stretchier than is typical, often due to genetic impacts on the proteins involved in collagen production. Symptoms appear throughout the body and in different body systems. The charts at the top gives you some idea of how wide-ranging the symptoms can be. Thankfully, no one has all the symptoms but when tends to happen in the medical systems in most countries is that you see separate specialists for different body systems and there is no one with enough knowledge to integrate all the information and realize that connective tissue is the common denominator underlying it all.
Because EDS/HSD are genetic in origin, treatment revolves around symptoms. Physical therapy is often a big part of the treatment plan. There are medications, vitamins, and supplements to help certain aspects of the disorder, too. For example, I have a mast cell activation disorder as part of my hEDS and take several medications to help relieve respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms.
Having an EDS/HSD diagnosis also allows your care team to keep an eye out for conditions that may develop, such as heart valve problems. It’s very important for surgeons to know if your connective tissues are not typical, as this may impact how a procedure is done or if it should be done at all. How well medications work and the dosages required can also differ. For example, my hEDS diagnosis explained why topical anethetics, like lidocaine, don’t work well for me.
I am hoping that, when the new diagnostic criteria are published, there will be increased awareness of inherited connective tissue disorders among both the medical community and the general public. For too long, symptoms have been dismissed as unrelated, idiopathic, stress-induced, hormonal, anxety-induced, unimportant, or imaginary. Like autoimmune diseases, these disorders are more prevalent in females than males, adding to the burden of being taken seriously and the dearth of studies.
The Ehlers-Danlos Society is an important organization spearheading study, training, education, and treatment of EDS/HSD internationally. Their website is a great source of information for patients and their families, as well as for clinicians and researchers. This month, as we raise awareness, my hope is that more people will learn about EDS/HSD and help those affected get the diagnosis, treatment, and validation they deserve.
Vote for Democrary #56
While May 1st is observed around the world as International Workers’ Day, it’s usually not a big thing in the United States, which observes Labor Day the first Monday in September.
This year is different.
Indivisible and other organizations are spearheading May Day Strong, calling for no work, no school, and no shopping today. There will be rallies in some places for those who are able with others, like me, participating from home. I’m wearing my “Presidents are not Kings” shirt and refraining from shopping today. (No work and no school are every day things for me.)
One of the messages today is “Workers over Billionaires.” The hope is that a show of economic power will draw attention to the unfair tax structure in the United States and the undue influence that wealthy individuals and corporations have over our government. This is also tied to current abuses of power by the government, trying to strip rights and protections under the law and interfere with elections.
As it happens, May 1st is also observed as Law Day in the United States. The Amercian Bar Association explains this year’s theme:
The 2026 Law Day theme is “The Rule of Law and the American Dream.” The rule of law—the idea that no person is above the law—is what ensures the rights of the people to live their lives as freely as possible and to pursue their dreams. The ABA encourages all Americans to recognize Law Day on May 1, 2026, and to reflect on how the rule of law ensures all Americans have the ability to fulfill their dreams.
This dovetails well with the May Day actions and No Kings, Hands Off, and other rallies that have been happening during Trump’s second term. Law Day seems even more urgent this year with the lawlessness of immigration enforcement and detention/deportation without due process, election interference, the gutting of the Voting Rights Act, and the decisions of the Supreme Court that fly in the face of precedence and the Constitution.
I don’t know what the impact of this May Day and Law Day will bring but I am looking at it as another step in the movement to restore the rights and freedoms of the American people, taking back the power from the corrupting influence of autocrats and oligarchs.
There is a third thing about May 1st that is important to me. It’s the first day of EDS & HSD Awareness Month. (EDS is Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome; HSD is the related diagnosis of Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder.) I was diagnosed with hypermobile EDS (hEDS) in January, although as a genetic connective tissue disorder, it has always been there. I hope to do several posts this month to continue to raise awareness and to update my readers about my current treatment trajectory.
Of course, there will be more posts in my Vote for Democracy series, too. The caveat is that there will never be as many posts as I would like, unless/until I can clear the brain fog and get more energy back. There will be other topics popping up, as well. You can never tell what might be at the top of JC’s Mind!
Or maybe you can….
After singing a gig with Madrigal Choir at a senior living complex last night, today is going to be a down day to recover to be ready for a big out-of-town medical appointment tomorrow and another gig on Friday.
Please join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/03/25/one-liner-wednesday-are-they/
reading difficulties
While this post will be stream of consciousness for Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday on the prompt “easy/hard,” it is also part of my occasional series JC’s Confessions, so I will open with the usual non-SoC opening for that series.
In the first few seasons of The Late Show, Stephen Colbert did a recurring skit, then a best-selling book, called Midnight Confessions, in which he “confesses” to his audience with the disclaimer that he isn’t sure these things are really sins but that he does “feel bad about them.” While Stephen and his writers are famously funny, I am not, so my JC’s Confessions will be somewhat more serious reflections, but they will be things that I feel bad about. Stephen’s audience always forgives him at the end of the segment; I’m not expecting that – and these aren’t really sins – but comments are always welcome.
Reading, which is something that was usually easy for me, is now often hard to do.
As someone who loves reading and who is trying to be a writer and poet, that’s a hard thing to admit.
This change is mostly related to what has recently been diagnosed as hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS), an inherited connective tissue disorder that affects collagen. Because we have connective tissue throughout our bodies, many different body parts and systems are affected and the symptoms and their locations vary over time.
For these last couple of years, I’ve been having a lot of problems with my brain and with fatigue.
I often have brain fog, which makes it difficult to concentrate. This makes it hard to read anything that is long, like books. I do better with short things, so I do a lot of my reading these days in the forms of emails, so, given what is going on, I read commentary on political topics and environmental problems and some Catholic church/social justice news that lands in my inbox.
You would think that poems would be perfect for my length limitations, but, sadly, this isn’t the case. I’ve largely lost contact with the creative side of my thinking, making it hard for me to read poetry most of the time, as I am not able to really appreciate the art of the poet. I hadn’t realized how much of my own creativity is wrapped up in reading someone else’s work. I do still manage to do a bit of reading of poems, especially my poet-friends’ work, but it’s frustrating and sad for me, knowing that I can’t fully appreciate their artistry.
I also have severe limits on how long I can read, write, or concentrate. I’m writing this in the morning and hope to draft one other practical letter I need to write, but that will probably be about it for the day because I will be very tired afterward. In order to have energy to go to vigil mass at 4:00, I’ll most likely spend the early afternoon lying down and resting.
It’s really hard to deal with these limitations on my brain power and energy.
There are also some other problems caused by my hEDS that interfere with my reading. I’m having a couple of problems with my eyes. I have some level of visual disturbance going on, especially with my left eye, which causes some blurring that isn’t able to be corrected with glasses. The problem isn’t with the eye itself but with the brain in processing it – at least that is the current theory. It may be related to dysautonomia, where the regulation of all those things that our bodies ordinarily do without our thinking about them goes a bit haywire. On rare occasions, I can concentrate hard enough on what I am looking at that I can get the blurriness to clear, although only for a short amount of time and at risk of ramping up the fatigue.
The other connective tissue-related eye problem is dry eye, which I treat with prescription drops, artificial tears, and taking flaxseed oil. These help but don’t eliminate the problem, which, on top of everything else, makes reading, especially onscreen, more tiring.
Now that we know about the hEDS, we may be better able to address some of the problems underlying this struggle I’m having with reading.
Or not.
I have a bunch of referrals to new specialists pending. I’m most anxious to find help for the brain fog/fatigue symptoms so that I can think and feel like myself again.
Meanwhile, I feel sad – and, sometimes, guilty – that I can’t manage to read my friends’ work or keep up with the torrent of news and commentary that I would like to do.
I try to give myself grace, but it’s hard.
*****
You are invited to join us for Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturdays. Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/03/20/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-21-2026/
By rights, there are several posts I should write but I don’t have the brain to do it so this post will be short takes on different topics glommed together. Sorry about that.
I am horrified by the US and Israel attack on Iran which included the assassination of many of their leaders, including the Grand Aytollah. I am also horrified by the couterattacks of Iran against many of their Middle East neighbors. None of this had to happen. In his first term, Trump walked out on a multi-country agreement that was keeping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. If he had left it in place, there would not have been the pretense for these attacks now. I hope that Congress finds the courage to vote that this is not a valid use of presidential power; the US Constitution makes clear that only Congress has the power to declare war. Still, with the war underway, it will be difficult to stop it. I do think, though, that this constitutes grounds for impeachment. Unauthorized war certainly seems to fit the definition of a “high crime.”
If you need a brief break from the horror, you can visit my new (five-line) poem with Silver Birch Press. My blog post about it is here.
Yesterday, I got a COVID vaccine. Now that I am 65, I can choose to renew my protection more frequently. My last dose was in late August so that I had my strongest immunity for the Boiler House Poets Collective 10th anniversary residency several weeks later. Like all my other COVID vaccines, this was from Pfizer, which is fitting because B, T, and I all participated in the Phase III trial that led to its emergency authorization in the US in December, 2020. To my knowledge, T and I have never contracted COVID and I’d like to keep it that way, if I can. It is likely that I will be needing to travel to major medical centers in the coming months, so I thought it was prudent to re-up my resistance to COVID. While many people ignore the existence of COVID at this point, it is still out there infecting, sickening, and sometimes killing people, especially in the older demographic. I want to do everything I can to not be one of them, especially with so much else going on with my health.
While I can still get some reaction from the vaccine, it’s much milder than it was initially. I chose to have the shot in my right arm, which is already pretty severely affected by what appears to be thoracic outlet syndrome, so my right arm is very sore today. I’m also fatigued, but it’s hard to tell if the shot is contributing to that or not, as that has also been part of my hEDS symptoms for a couple years now.
There’s a lot more to say, but I don’t have the energy and focus to write more now. Wishing you as much peace and equanimity as you can find in the midst of all of this.
I had hoped to attend vigil mass yesterday afternoon but the level of dysautonomia, pain, and fatigue I was having made it inadvisable. It was cold and I didn’t think that I could handle the amount of walking and being upright involved, even if I went to a nearby church rather than my own church which is a further drive.
Instead, I participated in an online mass through Heart of the Nation. While a local station televises the mass on Sunday, I was able to access it online on Saturday. One of my favorite homilists was presiding and viewing online gives a bit more time so I got to hear more music than in the televised version.
Back during my mother’s illness, she used to watch mass on television when she could no longer attend in person and visitors from the church would bring her communion from time to time. Eventually, I was given a pyx so that I could bring the Eucharist to her myself. It is mentioned in this poem, first published by Wilderness House Literary Review:
In my purse
cheap pens I won’t miss if they’re lost
my wallet, heavy with too many coins
ibuprofen for headaches
a pack of tissues
hair ties for windy days
a dog-eared calendar
my license to drive
a crumpled shopping list
emergency cough drops
a pyx
my favorite mechanical pencil, extra lead
credit cards – insurance cards – loyalty cards
a laminated prayer card from my mother’s funeral
One of the blessings of the pandemic shutdowns for me was the re-discovery of online or televised mass when I couldn’t attend in person. It’s comforting to have that alternative on weekends like this one.
I may need to take it more often in the future if we can’t get better control of my symptoms.
*****
Join us for Linda’s Just Jot It January! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/01/25/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-25th-2026/
Since my hEDS diagnosis last week, I’ve been trying to arrange for a number of tests that my specialist ordered.
Some of the tests I was able to do on a walk-in basis and those went smoothly. I’ve been having trouble, though, with orders that had to be faxed. I’ve only been able to schedule one of the three tests, despite repeated phone calls and a few written messages.
It’s only been a week and a half, but I’m feeling really frustrated.
After the months and months of go-rounds of various specialists, waiting to see them, and waiting for the tests they ordered, I’m impatient for more information, in hope that we might actually be able to have some options to deal with my most troubling symptoms.
Deep breath.
More waiting, more phone calls.
What’s a few more days or weeks when we are dealing with something I’ve had my whole life.
PS: After I posted, I realized that today’s prompt for #JusJoJan was “impatience” so, yeah, guilty of that, too.
Join us for Linda’s Just Jot It January! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/01/22/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-22nd-2026/
This weekend, I did a lot of board/committee work for the Madrigal Choir of Binghamton, plus a rehearsal for spring outside gigs with our small group.
I had PT this morning and did a couple of errands but now I am lying down and expect to be in bed all afternoon.
With hEDS, these things can happen. You can sometimes tough your way through a couple of days or events but you wind up paying for it later.
It’s a balancing act.
This jot is brought to you as part of Linda’s Just Jot It January. Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/01/19/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-19th-2026/
Joanne Corey 