Invisible Chaos — Athena Merritt

If you have reviewed your Medicare coverage options for 2021, pat yourself on the back. Annually, 57% don’t bother, according to recent analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). If you’re among those that skip Medicare’s annual open enrollment, there are some good reasons not to ignore this round.

Right around this time last year, I was cobbling together homemade chicken soup to get rid of a cold. My victory was short-lived, because a second wave struck a week later.  That’s long been my M.O. — battling an endless series of colds, viruses, and sinus infections.

Last week, voters successfully nudged a handful of states into expanding opportunities to buy marijuana legally. But there are a few things you should know before leaping into medical marijuana. I was excited when my home state of Pennsylvania finally opened the door to medicinal uses two years ago.

You may or may not be a sports fan. But today’s NFL trade deadline is a useful reminder to us all that some employers will stick by you through good and bad, while others will ditch you given the opportunity.  By 4 p.m., a host of players will…

With Halloween just days away, I’ve been thinking about fear. Not the holding-your-breath, muscle-clenching, waiting-for-horrors to unfold type. But rather the run-of-the-mill scares we’ve pushed down so deep we’ve forgotten they’re even there.  The idea that I’m avoiding fear has been flitting through my mind for months. It became…

Bad habits usually sneak up on me. I glide along thinking I’m in control until I get hit with the realization that I’m not. That moment arrived for me on a recent morning when I decided to skip the news.  It shouldn’t have been a big deal. But eating…

After being diagnosed with pulmonary sarcoidosis, I became a pro at protecting my lungs. Or so I thought. Even now, 18 years later, I’m still discovering threats I had overlooked. October is “Healthy Lung Month” in the U.S. Leaving my pulmonologist’s office all those years ago, I thought I…

I went to bed in the fourth quarter of “Monday Night Football” with my brother Antony’s words haunting me. My favorite team was losing, and I knew what he’d say about abandoning them for sleep: “There’s a lot of game left.” Antony believes in comebacks, and so do I,…

People are always surprised to hear that I travel from Pennsylvania to Ohio for medical appointments. Whether it’s an hour-long flight or a seven-hour trip by car, they think it sounds like an inconvenience. But after months of seeing local physicians, I’ve come to appreciate how much easier my out-of-state…

Day is breaking and my uncertainty unfolds. If I’m lucky, I’ll silence it with a productive morning. If I struggle, the doubts echoing in my mind grow louder. Sarcoidosis batters my self-confidence. It’s an ongoing tug of war between my goals and symptoms. It begins every morning, convincing a body…

When my family was caring for me, they got to witness my many endeavors at self-improvement. So, they won’t be surprised to hear I’m tweaking my life again during a September campaign dedicated to that. I wasn’t aware of National Self-Improvement Month when I was trying to escape the helplessness…

It may be odd to loathe an inanimate object, but I do. I didn’t always. The first newsroom I entered was filled with cubicles with majestic walls. Appointed a seat, elbow-to-elbow with my editor, I longed for that prime real estate. After landing it, chatty offices became a trend and…