Graham Simplified Reflection Archives
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Field Notes #2 — Niagara, New York at Niagara Woodland Campground
FIELD NOTES #2 NIAGARA, NEW YORK A World-Class Wonder, But Not A MCAS Safe Location Dates Jun 25 – Jun 28, 2026 Miles Driven 216 Weather 78-88 Sunny w/ Storms Symptom Score 25 (baseline: 23) WOuld we return No Where We Stayed Niagara Woodland Family Campground – Ransomville, NY Overall Rating How I Felt During…
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Field Notes #1 — Cleveland, Ohio at Roundup Lake
FIELD NOTES #1 CLEVELAND, OHIO Our first stop on the search for home Dates Jun 21 – Jun 25, 2026 Miles Driven 379 Weather 68-70 Sunny w/ Storms Symptom Score 25 (baseline: 23) WOuld we return No Where We Stayed Roundup Lake Campground – Mantua, OH Overall Rating How I Felt During our stay my…
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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…
