October 5, 2018 Columns by John Connor Don’t Turn Anything Down! At the start of all of this, when I was laid low in the hospital by what turned out to be sclerosis, I was visited by my mate Nigel. He is the king of sclerosis (I’ve written…
September 28, 2018 Columns by John Connor The Morning After the Night Before Last Wednesday morning didn’t go according to plan. I’m lackluster every Wednesday morn because Tuesday nights are my regular work gig at London’s Comedy Store. I laugh too much, drink too much, and don’t get home till about…
September 21, 2018 Columns by John Connor A Pain in the Back, Part 2 Second in a series. Read part one. Last week, I wrote about solving my back problems by purchasing a mattress topper for my bed. It was a good thing, too, as I was going into the hospital for a…
September 14, 2018 Columns by John Connor A Pain in the Back, Part 1 First in a series. So this is what an earthquake feels like? Well, it wasn’t that dramatic, but it was the middle of the night, and I’d been abruptly awakened to find myself lying at a 45-degree angle. This took…
September 7, 2018 Columns by John Connor Lymphedema: A Growing Problem? Now, I’m all for complimentary comments on my columns, and in the combative world the internet has engendered, the stroppy ones, too. But it’s when you lot start writing to each other that I know I’ve hit something.
August 31, 2018 Columns by John Connor I’m Too Busy to Think About MS Well, it’s not a cure, but working hard sure takes my mind off MS. In fact, I’m so rushed off my feet (irony intended!) I’m not sure I have time to write this. But if I stop and…
August 24, 2018 Columns by John Connor Everywhere I Go, I’m Invited To ‘Take a Seat’ I knew I had MS nine years ago when I went back to see my neurologist. I’d had the lumbar puncture to prove it definitively, and I displayed all the requisite symptoms. The only question I had…
August 17, 2018 Columns by John Connor I’m Busy Doing Nothing Everything takes so much damn time! I’m strangely working — or at least doing things I purport as work, such as this column. That’s no different than before MS; I still have the inclination to prevaricate or find…
August 10, 2018 Columns by John Connor Plumbing the Depths Well, this is going to be a niche market: A picture of a toilet should grab the attention of any plumber who’s now got MS and reads Multiple Sclerosis News Today. Victories need to be celebrated no…
August 3, 2018 Columns by John Connor Downbeat, but Upbeat Most weeks with MS are downbeat. That’s hardly a way to capture a reader’s attention — all of us struggle. What we need is light to blow away the shade. Last night as I climbed the stairs to…
July 27, 2018 Columns by John Connor The Graduate The queue to get into Canterbury Cathedral in bright sunshine seems endless. The quandary of being Dracula strikes me — I’ll either fry in the sun or fry in a church set up during the Roman occupation…
July 20, 2018 Columns by John Connor Phew, What a Scorcher Phew, what a scorcher. The summer of 1976 was the last time it was this hot in the United Kingdom. My lasting memory of that summer was not lazing on a beach, but sweltering as a relief manager…
July 13, 2018 Columns by John Connor Steering My Own Boat and Making a Splash The U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS) turned 70 last week. In England, yes, we are mourning our semi-final defeat by Croatia in the World Cup, but to most of us, the NHS is the U.K.’s crowning glory.
July 6, 2018 Columns by John Connor Down for the Weekend: World Cup Fatigue Hi, everyone. I’m absolutely exhausted. And it’s all the fault of the World Cup. Not from any sort of secondary exercise while watching games, but because it’s given me the week off work. England lost their last…
June 29, 2018 Columns by John Connor ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’ I started out in my professional life as a journalist. This only lasted about eight years and feels like a lifetime ago — which it was. Though I was not a news hound, I learned to smell a…
June 22, 2018 Columns by John Connor A Tale of Two Halves For those reading this in the U.S., part of what I’m going to write will likely be incomprehensible, as it involves the World Cup. That’s football, not soccer. The rest of the world is in thrall to…
June 15, 2018 Columns by John Connor Anyone for Golf? A family wedding in the gardens of a grand country house some 30 minutes from Oxford sounds idyllic. And indeed it was. Not, though, for anyone in a wheelchair. A deep pebble driveway at the front was impassable. It…
June 8, 2018 Columns by John Connor MS and My Experience with the Allergy Medication Clemastine I’ve just dived into the misty world of the allergy medication clemastine. My, there’s a lot already written about it on this site. I was prompted by an article I’d saved on Facebook last year.
June 1, 2018 Columns by John Connor Dear Diary I never kept a diary. I did sometimes muse about it but reckoned I’d never become famous enough for one to be useful. Well, at least in that I was right. Until the rise of the smartphone, anniversaries and…
May 25, 2018 Columns by John Connor Running (Wheeling) on Empty Arguments over nothing and everything are, in my experience, induced by extreme stress. When my wife and I were at full bore working together, this often happened. Not at work — there wasn’t time — and we were…
July 25, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister Disability pride is a tricky concept for me to relate to
July 22, 2024 Columns by Desiree Lama Reflecting on my weekly battle with multiple sclerosis-related migraines