Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

August 7, 2020August 5, 2020

It Was a Lazy Sunday Afternoon — Not!

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

It all started on the hottest day of the year here in the U.K. My phone said it was 99 F. An old friend was coming over, and my ... Read more

July 31, 2020July 29, 2020

The Mouth That Roared and Roared

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Strap in: This is not going to be a fun one. Even less so for me — though I’m writing this under the sort of drug load that Jack ... Read more

July 24, 2020July 22, 2020

The Joy of Joining the ‘Downton Abbey’ Set

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

For an espoused leftie, you might be surprised that I’ve always had the brush of the rugged individualist about me. Not quite Bear Grylls, but grabbing a rucksack and ... Read more

July 17, 2020July 16, 2020

It’s a Matter of Timing and Mic Technique

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

In the U.K., stand-up comedy is currently dead. Like Python’s parrot, it “wouldn’t move if you put 4,000 volts through it!” That’s not strictly true. Our government has just ... Read more

July 10, 2020July 8, 2020

Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Woman

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

In this case, the woman in question was yet again my wife, Jane. The hour in question was 4 p.m. on my usual day of writing. But on this ... Read more

July 6, 2020July 16, 2020

Here Comes the Sun, and It’s All Too Much

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Yup, it’s the annual whinge about what heat does to most of us, this time livened up by a headline that includes two Beatles’ song titles. (Yes, I did ... Read more

June 26, 2020June 24, 2020

A Morning With No Opera but Enough for a Small Choir!

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Last Wednesday my days of rest suddenly smashed to a halt. At one point it seemed like the majority of those who work for my local council’s social services ... Read more

June 19, 2020June 17, 2020

All Quiet on the MS Front

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

It hasn’t been that quiet in my surrounding world! Last week there was a crow fight so loud in our back garden that it echoed down the chimney into ... Read more

June 12, 2020June 10, 2020

So, Where Do I Start?

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Ah, it’s not the blank page that all writers fear that I’m worried about. Those days have long left me. Now it’s applying the discipline to stop! When I ... Read more

June 5, 2020June 3, 2020

Retirement: My Very Own Blackstar

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

“At the center of it all” is the dignity of allowing myself to retire with grace. And it only took a world-shattering event to get me to come to ... Read more

May 29, 2020May 27, 2020

Growing Up to Be a Strapping Big Baby

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

It was 4 a.m. and a crisis was brewing. I knew that this time, I’d be a nincompoop if I tried to deal with the situation myself, as I’d ... Read more

May 22, 2020May 21, 2020

Short and Sharp

Columns, Covid-19, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

This column will be short as I am quite ill. That’s nothing too unusual for those of us with MS. Oh, the joys of a relapse. A while back, ... Read more

May 15, 2020May 13, 2020

Waving the Flag of Victory

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Hi there. It’s me, typing again on my very ownsome! For the last two weeks, I’ve been too ill to manage, so my wife kindly acted as a secretary ... Read more

May 8, 2020May 12, 2020

Putting Down the Ritz

Columns, Covid-19, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

My stomach is grumbling. I’ve just had the worst weekend ever. And that includes when I had my first sclerosis and smashed my shoulder to pieces on a tennis ... Read more

May 1, 2020May 12, 2020

Keeping It All in the Family

Columns, Covid-19, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

I’ve never done this before, but I’m dictating this column to my wife. She has many attributes, among them being trained as a secretary many years ago. We went ... Read more

April 24, 2020April 28, 2020

Everything I Should Have Written About but Haven’t Gotten Round to

Columns, Covid-19, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

So far, this week has been horrible, but I’ll give that a brief mention later. The truth ain’t pretty, nor do I think it always makes good copy. Unless ... Read more

April 17, 2020April 15, 2020

Zen and the Art of UTI Maintenance

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

I knew a urinary tract infection (UTI) had come a visiting again. I’m now attuned to the slightest hint, like that vague burning after weeing. Indeed, it doesn’t have ... Read more

April 10, 2020April 28, 2020

Becoming Self-absorbed with MS During the Pandemic

Columns, Covid-19, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

With everything being so awful, the goal is to write uplifting copy. OK, sounds like my sort of gig. One way of dealing with things is to become self-absorbed ... Read more

April 3, 2020March 31, 2020

In Training for Solitary Confinement

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

I’ve just been sentenced to at least 18 months in solitary without time off even for good behavior! Pretty harsh. Luckily, I’m match fit. I’ve already previously done nearly ... Read more

March 27, 2020April 28, 2020

Do They Know It’s Not Christmas?

Columns, Covid-19, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Quarantine sure feels like Christmas. The shops are stripped bare. The streets are empty. Family homes are stuffed with everyone returning home. In our case, my wife rescued my ... Read more

March 20, 2020April 28, 2020

Let’s All Take a Deep Breath

Columns, Covid-19, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Take a deep breath, and I don’t mean the kind promoted by fake memes infecting the web to “prove” that you don’t have COVID-19! My deep-breath moment was in ... Read more

March 16, 2020May 12, 2020

What New Hell Is This?

Columns, Covid-19, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

There’s nothing like a good, old-fashioned bacteriological pincer attack to take your mind off impending death. I’m not exaggerating about the impending bit. A friend/colleague was supposed to fly ... Read more

March 6, 2020March 4, 2020

You Know Things Are Bad When the Banks Tell You to Wear a Mask

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

I know the new strain of coronavirus is bad, but in the face of impending doom, I’m likely to find humor. Anyone who has had more aggressive disease-modifying therapies ... Read more

February 28, 2020February 26, 2020

The World Turned Upside Down

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Being disabled constricts what my body does — but I’m still me. For a long time, I was trapped as I could no longer self-propel my self-propelled wheelchair. Then ... Read more

February 14, 2020February 13, 2020

And the Biofilm Goes to …

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

The medical profession must be sick and tired of patients diagnosing themselves via the wonders of the internet. But as a patient who’s sick and tired, you eventually have ... Read more

February 7, 2020February 6, 2020

This Story Has Legs — One Leg, At Least!

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

This is the story of how I became a patient columnist. Three years ago, I was still walking. Shambling, anyway. I could get up and down stairs but had ... Read more

January 31, 2020January 30, 2020

Here’s My ‘Veganuary’ Report

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

I’m well aware that new converts can be bores. I started an increasingly trendy vegan lifestyle back in December. It’s only been two months, but it seems like a ... Read more

January 24, 2020January 23, 2020

The Mind-Body Interface

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Well, this is one way of showing that I attended first-year philosophy seminars: Draw on the thoughts of Plato and Aristotle, then leap two millennia to Descartes. I never ... Read more

January 17, 2020January 15, 2020

It’s Only a Matter of Time

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

There was a time when I didn’t have deadlines. I’d finally finished academia. No more essays ever! In theory, I still had seven essays to write. Luckily, those essays ... Read more

January 10, 2020January 9, 2020

Lo, on the Very First Vegan Christmas

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Only 347 shopping days to go! So don’t dismiss this as a column about last Christmas (though that’s what it is!) but as possibly the first on the planet ... Read more

January 3, 2020December 20, 2019

Keep Taking the Tablets

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

What did I write about last New Year’s? As usual, it was related to a bodily function: urinary tract infections (UTIs). Then, readers almost unanimously recommended methenamine hippurate. I ... Read more

December 20, 2019December 18, 2019

Santa Is on a Secret Mission

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

This would be Santa’s third year as a disabled, magical creature. He seemed to be the only one but took some comfort that even the mighty Avengers had taken ... Read more

December 13, 2019December 12, 2019

Stop in the Name of Leukocytes

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

I rolled onto the neurology ward of the hospital that has been dealing with my disease from the beginning. The nurses, whom I’ve met innumerable times, opened with their ... Read more

December 6, 2019December 4, 2019

How ‘The Terminator’ Changed John Connor

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

With “The Terminator” involved, it’s fair enough that this tale starts out as a father-son thing. My son, Jack, kept needling me to watch a film on Netflix U.K. ... Read more

November 15, 2019November 13, 2019

This Could Be the Last Time

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Fear grips me. Marijuana relaxes, eases pain, and helps my body work better. It also stirs paranoia, but only when you let it. In bed, a fretful waking dream. ... Read more

November 8, 2019November 7, 2019

MS Really Enjoys Hitting Below the Belt

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

I didn’t file a column last week due to medical reasons. It’s a perfect excuse for a patient columnist — we don’t need a dog to blame for eating ... Read more

October 25, 2019October 24, 2019

Pip, Pip, Hooray! Months of Work and Worry Pay Off

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

By 2017, over 50,000 people with disabilities in the U.K. had lost their accessible vehicles due to reassessments required by Personal Independence Payment (PIP), a financial assistance program for ... Read more

October 18, 2019October 16, 2019

This Week, I Feel Like I’m Growing Up Again

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

As I sit down (nothing unusual there — all I do these days is sit down!) and write this, I’m 62 years and one day old. On Saturday morning, ... Read more

October 11, 2019October 10, 2019

I’m a Big Boy Now

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Many of us live with a reality that we’re too embarrassed to talk about, even with medical professionals. Multiple sclerosis (MS) prevents us from pooing properly — no matter ... Read more

October 4, 2019October 2, 2019

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning: A Weekend of UTIs

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

For the last few months, urinary tract infections (UTIs) have been the main subject of this column. My current disease-modifying therapy, Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), has had a significant impact on ... Read more