Columns

During the holidays, the small, wood-paneled dining room was full to bursting with my family members. Ten or more people squeezed around a table meant for six, with just an inch of elbowroom between us. My dad sat at the head of the table, which was covered by a cream…

In this week’s column, I’d like to share a few details about a typical day for my wife, Jill. When the alarm sounds at 5:20 a.m., she wakes up and gets ready to go to work as a secretary in a small private school. Jill starts her workday by helping…

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that children get their first dose of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine between 12 and 15 months. Of course, some children can’t receive it due to immune system problems or severe allergies,…

My mother-in-law, Edwina, visited us right before Christmas. I’m proud to say that I’m her favorite son-in-law. (That’s a family joke. I’m her only son-in-law.) Her husband, Ken, died from Huntington’s disease in 2011. During her visit, I asked her what it’s like to be a caregiver for someone you…

“It could be worse” is a sentiment I hear fairly often. It’s often said after I express sympathy for someone’s situation — such as when someone worked until 10 p.m. instead of leaving at 6. It’s as if the sympathy is unwarranted because it wasn’t the absolute worst…

Patience doesn’t just happen. It takes work. Would you enter a weightlifting competition, run a marathon, or perform stand-up comedy without planning and practicing? You probably wouldn’t. So why do we expect ourselves just to be patient? When my wife, Jill, learned that she carries the Huntington’s gene, we started…

Every family, regardless of religion or background, has at least one time of year that is special to them. A time when they get together and celebrate, repeating rituals that have been passed down through the generations. For my family, that time is…

I was an emotional mess when I first met Jeff Carroll at a Huntington’s disease conference. My recent gene-positive diagnosis was on my mind. I couldn’t talk about it without crying, and I believed that I would never be happy again. My husband and I were…

My wife is extremely low maintenance. For instance, she’s allergic to chocolate and flowers, so she doesn’t want either for Valentine’s Day. Even if she weren’t allergic, she still wouldn’t want them because she believes Valentine’s Day is a manufactured holiday. So we essentially don’t acknowledge it. (However,…

For this column, I interviewed my best friend about her thoughts on Huntington’s. Here are my questions and her answers: During your freshman year, you had a lecture on Huntington’s. Do you remember your thoughts about it at that time? I was taking an introductory biology class, and we were…