It’s HPN Awareness Week this week: 7 August to 13 August. Parenteral nutrition, or “IV feeding,” isn’t just for patients in the hospital. We know that. And it isn’t as uncommon as it once was. The Oley Foundation has set aside August 7–13 for HPN Awareness Week to help spread the word that people can [...]

Journalists and writers are similar, right? After all, journalism is a specialised form of writing. Well, if you go by Twitter, I’d say they’re different, quite different. Though there are exceptions, generally speaking journalists on Twitter get it, book writers do not. Journalists get that it’s a great way to talk to their readers, to [...]

I was watching ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss  Edition (link has annoying video with audio ad) last night and heard the medical specialist inform the 456-lb woman that she was malnourished. I wondered: how did they assess malnutrition? How do we know if we’re malnourished, even when fat? So I asked my resident nutrition guru. [...]

It’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere, and winter for friends in the Southern Hemisphere. In honour of that, Smashwords is kicking off their third annual Summer/Winter Sale, and they invited authors to participate. I answered their invitation with a resounding “Yes!” Lifeliner and She will both be fifty percent off their regular price. And as [...]

I’m pleased to announce that my newest title She is now available at the awesome price of $2.99 in the Amazon Kindle store, along with my first book Lifeliner. Purchasing a Kindle ebook on Amazon is fast and easy with the 1-Click Buy button. You can also give She or Lifeliner or both as a [...]

Jeej leaves the country on business, and Judy fades. She’s had a longer life than she’d ever thought possible back in 1970, and she decides it’s time to say good-bye. Yet death is not the end. And her life is not the beginning and end of TPN. Her example, her courage, her life inspired others [...]

Cliff finds Judy dying in Toronto General Hospital. Panicked, he phones Jeej at his home. Jeej is astounded, but advises Cliff to transfer her to St. Michael’s Hospital if he wants him to look after her. Within hours, Judy is at the Queen Street hospital, and Jeej is there with his residents and the nurses. [...]

Some change is not good. Judy’s doctor, the man who saved her life and kept her alive for almost two decades, has moved to a new hospital. Worse, the TPN program did not move with him because Toronto General Hospital fought for and won the battle to keep it. While Jeej works to train people [...]

“It was like travelling with a celebrity,” Marlene told me when I was interviewing her about Judy Taylor. Nowhere was that more true than on their road trips down to New York state for the annual Oley conferences. Judy loved those conferences, meeting fellow patients, being able to travel with her friends from Toronto General [...]