Chapter 1: Tiny Weird Identifiable Lump (TWIL)… TWIL showed up in April—or rather, I found TWIL in April. It is strange because self-exams were not a routine for me, even though I knew the importance. I always had dense tissue and would get an annual ultrasound just to make sure …
Read More »Vaneisa: Countrymen, lend me your ears…
Do your ears hang low? Every night, as I lay my head on my pillow, I pass my hand under my earlobe to smooth it out. It’s uncomfortable otherwise. As I do it, the words to a children’s song flash through my head, a soundtrack to the motion. You might …
Read More »Vaneisa: FLiRTing with Covid—there is more than dengue to worry about
I don’t mean to be harping on health issues, especially given my lack of medical credentials. But as I said, I’ve experienced enough to feel that it is worth sharing information when it relates to the public good. So bear with me. Please. A few weeks ago, my offspring called …
Read More »Vaneisa: If yuh iron bad… my adventures in haemoglobin
If I seem to be cantering down the road of health issues these past few weeks, it is because I have been talking to several sufferers who don’t seem to know what’s going on with them. Of course I have no medical training, but I have had such a diverse …
Read More »Vaneisa: Down the dengue road—that sudden explosion of excruciating pain
Something tells me that I already mentioned that I had dengue four times; once, dengue haemorrhagic fever, another at the same time as chikungunya. The first time, around the year 2000, was an ordeal itself, worsened by the fact that I had no idea what was happening when the pains …
Read More »Vaneisa: Don’t let them fool you with “clever” marketing of unhealthy health choices
I’d wanted to return to the relationship between marketing and the choices we make, a subject I’ve often visited. This column of five years ago contained the points I wanted to make; worth repeating as a reminder. Many of us are trying to adopt a healthier lifestyle. You know, incorporating …
Read More »Vaneisa: Deliver us from temptation—confessions of a late night snacker
A friend sent me an email a few days ago, asking if I was okay because my recent columns had a “dark tinge” and he wondered what was up. It is true that I have been irate and have been complaining mainly about poor service, callous politicians and the gloomy …
Read More »Vaneisa: Finding room in the little hut; a parable for unpacking problems
Snippets from childhood can pop up arbitrarily and stick in your head. As a wee reader (from the age of three), I read anything I could find, and some things have obviously lingered. I kept hearing this line from what was probably a morality tale during a difficult period these …
Read More »