Graham Simplified Reflection Archives
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Field Notes #9 – Rockport Maine
The boys and I started our week in the Rockport/Rockland/Camden area with a hike up Mount Battie in the Camden State Park. The climb was short, rock, steep and technical – just how the boys like it. At the top we were rewarded with a great view of the ocean and an opportunity to climb the WW1 monument tower which sits on top of the mountain.
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Field Notes #8 – Part Two
We started our second week of vacation time in Maine with a short walk over to the Golf of Maine Mini Golf course just 600ft from the campground. After Meg got out of work, we ran over to Northeast Harbor for some blueberry donuts from Colonel’s Bakery and Restaurant and to walk along the marina. Northeast Harbor is a picture perfect ocean side town.
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When Chronic Illness Tries to Change Who You Are – An MCAS Sufferer’s Rant
There is one question I have been asked more often than I expected since my MCAS symptoms really started ramping up a couple of years ago. I think it is almost always asked with the best of intentions, but it lands harder than people realize. That question is: “But…you don’t really act like a sick…
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Field Notes #8: Part 1 – Southwest Harbor, ME
This leg of the journey was supposed to be our “vacation time.” No homeschool for the kids, just a chance to enjoy everything Acadia National Park and Mount Desert Island have to offer.
It started great. We spent lots of time exploring tide pools, found several new hikes, and after even more repairs (this time replacing the bike’s shifter cable), we were finally able to get some bike rides in as well.
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Field Notes #7 – Unplanned Stop
For those of you who have been following along with our journey across the United States to find a location where my MCAS symptoms are better, you might notice that this post looks a bit different than the previous ones. This was on purpose, because we didn’t plan on making this stop. Our truck decided to.
We were planning to spend the morning driving through New Hampshire’s White Mountains before continuing east into Maine—a drive of about five and a half hours to Sebasticook Lake Campground. We were going to stay there for a couple of days while Meg had important meetings and then continue on to Southwest Harbor, Maine. Once again…our truck had other plans.
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Field Notes #6 – Goshen, NH
We didn’t do as much while camping in Goshen due a lot to the three days of storms and because we had already been here for almost three weeks. We spent a lot of time enjoying the beautiful campground beach and Rand’s Pond. We got the boys each a tube, which they had a blast using in the pond and to get out to the floating dive platform.
We did sneak a few hikes in between the rain and homeschool time. We hiked the Sawyer Trail (which a name like Sawyer how could we not!!) which was an easy 1 mile hike through a mature forest. One morning we also to the short drive to the Ruth LeClair Memorial Trail, which is a 3 mile hike around a beautiful man-made lake.
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Field Notes #5 – Newport, NH
We didn’t struggle to find things to do in the Sunapee Lake area. We managed to find everything from full day trips to the Quechee Gorge area to nice evenings out picking blueberries at a U-pick farm down the road.
Probably our most eventual day was a trip to the Quechee Gorge hike, the amazing Vermont Institute of Natural Sciences (VIMS) Raptor Center and the King Arthur Bakery, Café, Store & School. It was incredible how well the Raptor Center at VIMS held the boys attention.
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Running and MCAS – The First Mile: Returning to Running After a Year with MCAS
I spent a long time thinking about how to write this article. Originally, I imagined writing a detailed breakdown of the workouts, mileage, and progression that finally allowed me to run again after taking nearly a year off because of MCAS. Unfortunately, the problem is that I didn’t stumble across a magical combination of medications…
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Why MCAS Symptoms Change Every Day: The Bucket Theory Explained
If you have MCAS you’ve probably experienced something similar to: Yesterday you went for a run and felt fine. Today you ran the same route and ended up covered in hives. It can feel completely random. While there is no perfect way to explain why an individual reaction occurs on one particular day, one mental…
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Field Notes #4 – Woodbury, Vermont
Woodbury, VT turned out to be a challenge for us, both in terms of my symptoms and for finding things to do with the kids.
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Field Notes #3 – Smugglers Notch, Vermont
We were able to pack a ton of exploring into our time in the Smugglers Notch area. No doubt about it the boys favorite part of this area was the diverse and numerous opportunities to go swimming. My favorite part was getting to explore with them and to finally start feeling better!!
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Field Notes #2 — Niagara, New York at Niagara Woodland Campground
The Niagara area was an awesome pit-stop for us! It proved to have plenty to do for a few days, but it was not the best for MCAS. My symptoms spiked here.
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Field Notes #1 — Cleveland, Ohio at Roundup Lake
We really enjoyed our second trip ever to the Cleveland area. The Cuyahoga Valley National Park area is set up so nicely for biking with the tow path going along the river throughout the park. We had a great time hiking with the kids who loved all the rocks they could scramble over and spending time in the river.
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How We Prepared Our Truck and Camper for a Year of Full-Time Travel
We’re On The Road! Today we completed the first leg of our 7,500-mile journey around the country in search of a place where I might finally find some relief from my MCAS symptoms. My wife and two sons have sacrificed a tremendous amount to make this adventure possible. Leaving behind a home, routines, friends, and…
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Symptom Tracking: How I Learned to See Patterns in My MCAS
When I first started trying to understand my MCAS, one of the most overwhelming — and ultimately most helpful — things I began doing was tracking my symptoms. At first, I struggled to find the motivation. The whole process felt almost impossible. There were just too many variables. How could I ever find meaningful patterns…
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Trying to Get Help With MCAS: Why It’s So Hard (and What Helped Me)
I didn’t go into this part of my journey with high expectations. Dealing with a wide range of symptoms across multiple systems, I assumed I’d either be dismissed… or misunderstood. I don’t love going to the doctor, and dealing with a wide variety of symptoms across multiple systems made me pretty confident I’d be perceived…
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How to Build a ChatGPT Model to Help You With Your MCAS Symptoms: Turning Lived Experience Into Something Predictive
When you live with something like MCAS, a lot of life becomes reactive. You eat something and wait to see what happens. You go somewhere new and brace for symptoms. You try a new activity and hope you didn’t push too far. For a long time, that was my reality: collecting experiences without a reliable…
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How ChatGPT Helped Me Identify MCAS (Not a diagnosis, a process)
Disclaimer: This post describes my personal experience using ChatGPT as a tool alongside medical care. It is not medical advice, and ChatGPT is not a diagnostic tool. Always consult qualified healthcare professionals for diagnosis and treatment. For years, I knew something was off. Randomly cold extremities. Days where I just didn’t have it on a…
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MCAS and Doctors: One Person’s Journey Navigating the Challenge of Finding Support
It was dark in a hotel room in Florida, where I had just helped my two sons—nine and seven—fall asleep the night before we were due to fly back to Michigan. We had flown south to spend a week in the warmth so my sons could enjoy being outside with my parents, who were snowbirding…
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Meat and Potatoes Recipes that Work for my MCAS
I grew up very firmly in the “meat and potatoes” world. For context: tacos — made with extremely mild seasoning, and filled with nothing but meat and cheese — were considered adventurous in my house. When I got to college, my mind was blown by wild new foods like hummus… and putting lettuce on a…
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Running with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome: What I Wish I’d Known About My ‘Invisible Limiter
I used to think I just wasn’t tough enough. Years later, I found out my body had been fighting me the whole time. When I was seventeen I thought it was all in my mind. Everyone told me it was. Every race and hard practice started and ended the same way: the same stomach pain…
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Mast Cell Activation Syndrome – My Origin Story
My name is Craig, and eight years ago, during the heat of summer, my legs suddenly went cold. Even in the middle of long runs — fifteen miles or more, drenched in sweat — they wouldn’t warm up. That was the beginning of something I couldn’t explain. Even though I didn’t know it at the…
