Author Archive: ConnectedCarole
Putting Long-Term Care into Your Retirement Planning
Long-term care planning for invisibly disabled people can be more difficult due to limited finances. Unpleasant to think about since we already live with ongoing health issues. But depending on your circumstances, considering it may be an important necessity. What is your situation? Independently wealthy? Family willing/able to help? All alone? A spouse in poor […]
Continue readingYou Can See Me – But Do You Really?
This invisibly disabled woman hit a roadblock. I could not publish the originally scheduled guest post about long-term care because of technical glitches (caused by me). It will appear later. So, I have updated a previous post to remind everyone what invisible disabilities are and ways of identifying invisibly disabled people. Meanwhile, I am on […]
Continue readingSame Kind of Different As Me book review
Note: This book does not deal specifically with chronic illnesses. But, it has such impact I had to share it with you. However, some parts definitely do apply to our journeys. A modern-day slave, an international art dealer, and the unlikely woman who bound them together. Such reads the tag-line for this book. Same Kind […]
Continue readingWhat Do You Say? What Do They Hear?
Ever wondered what to say to your chronically ill friend? Ever wondered why they seemed upset at something you meant kindly? Satisfying conversation with invisibly disabled people is possible. But misunderstandings can occur. Consider what your words mean to them. As sixteen-year-old Paul pushed his mother, Celeste, into the Worship Center, a few people said, […]
Continue readingLife Planning as a Parent with Disabilities
Welcome to information about invisibly disabled parents and finances.
Continue readingMy Tribute to Karen Baker: My Friend, My Supportive Observer
We met Karen 19 years ago when Joe and I moved to Gold Beach, OR for Joe to become the new pastor at her church. Thus, began a friendship that lasted all these years. It ended March 31, 2019 when Karen joined Jesus. Although we moved on after two years, we retained our friendship. We […]
Continue readingWhat do you do when bad things get worse?
Do dwellers ever have good days? Most of us do, but maybe only a day here and there. Unfortunately, overall our lives are filled with hard things. Probably most invisibly disabled people also experience worse days—a bad flare, new symptoms, or new diagnosis. So, what do we do when bad turns to worse? What invisible […]
Continue readingCelebrating 4 years! Evaluation Time! Need Your Help!
Celebrating Navigating the Storms! Four years and counting! In March 2015, I began building Navigating the Storms. I envisioned more than just a blog as my purpose was to include information for and about invisibly disabled people, but I thought it would be small. However, it grew and grew! So along with celebrating, it’s evaluation […]
Continue readingIs My Life Hard to Understand? Find Help Here!
Where do I start? My first thought when someone asks what’s wrong with me! Maybe other dwellers think that, too. Especially if they have multiple issues or a difficult-to-describe rare condition. It's not that I don't want to explain; I just don't know what to say. The desire to be understood is a deep need […]
Continue readingAre You Healthy? Read This Letter!
Trish's comparisons of our lives and healthy people’s hits the mark! If you are healthy, count your blessings. I hope you get the idea of what many of us face every day.
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