Nevertheless, Persisting: Life. Love. Long COVID.

Thank you to the brilliantly talented ⁠Deb Talan⁠, formerly of The Weepies, for inspiring today's episode.Today we're diving into medical gaslighting - what fun! We also talk about some of the ways we've worked to fight back against it, advocate for ourselves as patients, and express gratitude for the good providers out there.DOES NOT BEAR REPEATINGThis is not the way I thought it would beThought it would be much lighterThis is not the way I thought it would beThought it would be much

We're talking New York Times Tiny Love Stories today. Of sorts. The rejected sorts. Dr. Amy shares one of her many rejected submissions and she and Lance share the variety of ways they each use writing to heal, cope, express, and document their lives and Long COVID journeys. There's also a mea culpa somewhere in there from Dr. Amy having something to do with silver linings and erectile dysfunction (I mean, come on! You want to listen now, right?!). And we sing the praises of the best little

TRIGGER WARNING: there's a brief mention of self harm in this episode.It's Long COVID Awareness Month and we are talking silver linings and counting all the ways that we are #hashtag# BLESSED! Or something like that. In reality, Dr. Amy and Lance talk about what they've learned from their experience with Long COVID, share lessons from others from whom they've learned (shout out Patient-Led Research Collaborative & Brain Damage Diaries on Substack!), and consider how and whether

How do we mark the passage of time when we're in limbo? That's the question on Dr. Amy's and Lance's minds in this episode of NEVERTHELESS, PERSISTING. We consider how our perceptions of time have changed since Long COVID, how we mark time, how we pass time, and how all this has changed since the Before Times. Time, time, time... it's a hazy shade of something out there.A YEAR IN DOODLESI've been resisting writing an acknowledgement of the new year. Another year of illness. Another year of no cure

Isn't Episode 4 the standard introductory episode in every podcast series? No? Well, GOOD because "standard" has never been our way! It's our Behind the Podcast episode! Dr. Amy presents her vision for NEVERTHELESS, PERSISTING. She and Lance then go on to think together about the ways and contexts that individuals do and don't have power in society, how the collective we persist through the crap we encounter, how we resist, and there may be a Peter Cetera tangent somewhere in the middle

It's all about Johnny! You know, those terrible, awful, itchy, ugly gowns they make you wear at the hospital. Dr. Amy's breaking up with them, Lance gives us a history lesson, Dr. Amy talks power and fashion, and we all agree that Johnny needs to go.DEAR JOHN(NY)Dear John(ny),You came into my life at a time when I needed you, covering my bits and bobbles as well as your design would allow. For that I must thank you.Continues at https://amyblackstonephd.substack.com/p/dear-johnny.

Dr. Amy reads "I Love You. I'm Sorry." from her Substack then she and Lance discuss how chronic illness can make you feel like you're letting everybody in your life down, maintaining relationships when you're too sick to move, and making peace with it all.I LOVE YOU. I'M SORRY.If I could implant an electronic ticker tape across my forehead, these are the words I’d string across that broad expanse. I should also add them to my email and text headers and footers. And perhaps to a billboard outside my

Dr. Amy reads "World Spins Madly On" from her Substack then she and Lance discuss life with Long COVID, loneliness, and waking up after having missed the zombie apocalypse.WORLD SPINS MADLY ONIt's over. That life from the Before Times. I could hardly tell you what it felt like then though everyone else seems fine. They look the same. They act the same. They're still here in body and spirit. I'm pretty certain we'd agree the same cannot be said for me. We - me and everyone else - are living in two