September 30, 2022 Columns by John Connor How Did I End Up in a ’60s Cold War Spy Thriller? The constant light in my cell burned through my eyelids all night. Every night for days now. Prostrate on my back, I couldn’t even turn over to get away from it. Why me? I knew nothing. Wasnāt part of any organization. Had no power. Couldnāt influence anyone. How did I…
July 8, 2022 Columns by John Connor Living With MS: ‘That Was the Week That Was’ Truly Awful Monday Unlike Prince, my Monday wasnāt manic. It was barreling along quite sedately until my wife, Jane, casually noted, “Remember, youāve got a dental appointment on Wednesday morning.” Er, no, I hadnāt remembered. It was somewhat churlish of me, as Iād been waiting for this appointment for nigh on…
May 27, 2022 Columns by John Connor How I Get Through My Days ā More Importantly, Please Tell Me How You Get Through Yours Todayās youth have to accumulate a range of skills. Everything changes so fast. Parents often have no idea what career their kids even want to follow. Do you know what a UX designer is? Me, neither. This latest social change was revealed to me in a recent Guardian article,…
January 14, 2022 Columns by John Connor This Week, MS Takes a Back Seat The vagaries of multiple sclerosis are always present, but this week, my waking hours have been consumed by something far more important. I say waking hours, but we have to discount much of that time, because I’m put to bed at the early hour of 10 p.m. and spend several…
October 22, 2021 Columns by John Connor Party on, Dude, but Iām Still Blaming the Dog! It was my birthday last Friday. No cards, please; itās far too late. Anyway, considering the worldās supply chain disruption, Iād be well on the way to my next by the time it arrived! Just a small social gathering of immediate family. Six of us demolished 150 quids’ ā…
September 17, 2021 Columns by John Connor What Did I Do Over My MS Holiday? Stand-up! So, yes, Iāve been away for four weeks. Anybody miss me? Well not away as such. There are places with hoists ā even a specialist camper van you can hire here in the United Kingdom ā but matching that with a profiling bed makes for quite the elusive Venn…
August 6, 2021 Columns by John Connor ‘All Change Please, the Medical Equipment Youāre Using Ends Hereā Itās all happening at once. Yesterday, a box turned up with my new lymphedema wraps, which use compression to help reverse my lymphedema symptoms. Iāve been waiting for the wraps for nearly a month. It turns out Iām such an unusual size that they had to be imported from…
July 16, 2021 Columns by John Connor Down and Out in London Town Last month, my brother-in-law finally managed to return to Thailand and his lovely wife. He’d been trapped in the U.K. for over a year due to COVID-19. Thailand has quite rightly imposed a Kafkaesque set of rules about entering the country on an extended immigrant visa. Luckily, we had…
May 21, 2021 Columns by John Connor Introducing My ‘MS Popeye-Spinach Hypothesis’ For any younger readers, and by that I’m guessing 45 and under, may I present the cartoon character Popeye the Sailor Man. He got himself out of scrapes by downing a can of spinach, which supercharged his muscles. There was none of that nonsense of de-stalking raw young leaves…
March 26, 2021 Columns by John Connor The MS Astronaut Returns After a 10-day Hospital Stay So, where off Earth have I been? Nothing as adventurous as a space flight, I’m afraid, but a more prosaic litany of mishaps. First, I did crash, but that was from a vicious steroid withdrawal. My body went limp. Later, it would become even limper. A small wound on…
January 29, 2021 Columns by John Connor How I’m Staying on Top of MS’ Many ‘Gifts’ When I was finally diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2009, my first question to my neurologist was, “Will I end up in a wheelchair?” She patted this question back with the generic, “You may, but no one knows the course that anyone’s MS might take.” Later, I learned that late-onset…
November 6, 2020 Columns by John Connor 45 Minutes in the Life of John Peter Connor I have two regular carers at the moment. The first to arrive greets me with her usual efficacious, “Good morning, John!” She’s loud enough to wake the whole street. Luckily, my neighbors should be up anyway, as my carers are booked for 11 a.m. each weekday. I have mentioned in…
July 26, 2019 Columns by John Connor Beaten by the Heat: Oh, What a Night! It’s 1 p.m. in the U.K., and it’s 90 degrees Fahrenheit.Ā I can hardly move due to the heat. My left hand is typing this. The rest of my body has shut down. Tomorrow is forecast to be the hottest July day in recorded history in the U.K. I had set…
February 8, 2019 Columns by John Connor Wrap Up Warm: It’s Colder than Mars! OK, I’ve used a typical tabloid headline to draw you into a column about dealing with lymphedema. Well, the topic is not exactly sexy! Though my calves are now extremely toasty due to being effectively embalmed. Lymphedema has been plaguing me for years now. There seems to be…
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. Which is a good thing, however irrelevant I then feel. A…