by Trish Cantillon I watched nervously as the nurse flicked the veins on my mom’s arm, trying desperately to get an IV in. “What am I going to do with you, Miss Joaun? These veins keep collapsing!” the nurse said. My mom was recuperating in a rehab facility from a fractured pelvis and newly diagnosed hypertension which came with a salt-restricted diet which she refused to eat. She’d been there for a couple weeks but was not getting any better….
Photos by Megan Kanipe
by Jacinta Nandi I never thought about breastfeeding until I did it myself. Until I failed at it myself, I suppose I should say. Twenty-four years old, I was a young mother with a tiny scrawny baby at my breast, screaming himself purple. Nurses who wanted to help but were also getting impatient were grabbing at my nipples, scrunching them up into triangles, brutally stuffing them into his mouth. He didn’t suck, he just screamed and screamed and screamed and…
by Lauren Jonik No one expects to develop a chronic illness. After all, the common narrative around health is that people who get sick either get well within a certain time frame or they pass away. But for many people, there is a universe in between that requires daily navigation. According to the National Health Council, 133 million Americans live with ongoing, incurable conditions. There is little doubt that chronic illness brings challenges above and beyond coping with symptoms. Health…
by Andrea Crowley-Hughes The day I went to get my MacBook, the commuter train that connects Newark, New Jersey to lower Manhattan was packed and slow. Although it was only the beginning of spring, I remember the overwhelming heat, exhaustion and lightheadedness that caused me to crouch on the floor when no seats were available. A woman who looked to be in her late 20s or 30s—about my age—was being helped by paramedics when we got to 14th Street because…