A glorious facade – just look at me!
(Photograph Ivan Kemp) Do you like this picture of me? When I see this photo of myself, I see someone proud and accomplished. My posture reflects inner [...]
May 22nd, 2023
2:50 pm
March 14th, 2023
8:29 pm
Here and There, art exhibition at Queenscliff Gallery
Here and There exhibition: paintings, drawings and etchings of Venice by me at Queenscliff Gallery. It's thrilling to be writing this post. To my friends and followers further afield than Melbourne, I will have a virtual tour of the exhibition published on the Queenscliff Gallery (QG) website where you can view the works forming the exhibition and some of my other available artworks. Here and There is a culmination of my recent trip to Venice... to date!
March 7th, 2023
6:07 am
Soula Mantalvanos in Times News Group’s Women in Business International Women’s Day 2023 Edition
(Image: Soula Mantalvanos, founder My Health Story features in Women in Business, Bellarine Times International Women’s Day special edition 2023) Feature, Women in Business, Bellarine Times International [...]
December 22nd, 2022
4:35 pm
Arrivederci 2022
(Image: Me in Cortona, Italy 2022) I’m signing off this year with Italian flare. I’m trying to stay positive after yet another messy year. It almost feels [...]
December 5th, 2022
11:35 am
Remember! Slow Down to Speed Up
Near impossible! Slowing yourself down when you’re feeling great is a pathetic concept for a person living with chronic illness. It’s not like you ever go very [...]
October 4th, 2022
2:30 pm
WEBINAR: Can visualising the personal health experience lead to better care and understanding?
Can visualising the personal health experience lead to better care and understanding? You all know what I think and believe about this. But now, I'm aiming to inform the rest of [...]
September 27th, 2022
8:43 pm
Pacing (and Baking)
A brief note on pacing Sometimes pacing means trading a walk to manage baking a cake. I wanted to post this as too many of us managing chronic illness are made [...]
September 24th, 2022
11:50 am
My Lived Experience at CODA Conference
The Primary Care workshop at this year's CODA Conference was my favorite lived experience contribution to date! The workshop approach was more effective than my other 'standup gigs'. Something has clicked with me lately – I've stepped out of chronic illness's emotional and physical sides and more often partaking in health education. I like it! We must believe that twitches, spasms, toilet function-changing effects, noise, screaming, soreness, stabbing, burning, itching, fatiguing, and draining effects of chronic pain can be controlled. If you had told me this between my first and 4.5-year mark, I would have felt angry and said, 'My issue is severe, far more serious than everyone realises, and my healthcare practitioners are all missing the terrible thing in my body, and I am going to die from it.'
September 7th, 2022
11:51 am
A Venetian Refuelling
I feel completely rejuvenated and jubilant after Theo's and my recent 3-week trip to Italy. Since my spinal cord stim implant, our life and livelihood seachange, and now, with an anti-inflammatory focus, I can feel confident that pain levels will remain right down and my happiness right up. This is a big announcement for my brain.
April 24th, 2022
1:38 pm
Report from ISO
Well, hello, COVID. After all the care, caution and staying in, Omicron finally caught us from no idea where. After all the fear of catching this virus, considering my Inflammasome gene and my chronic health issue, I'm happy to report that I breezed through it! I was abundant with the usual energy that comes to me when social obligation falls away. In addition, the pain levels fell away as they have done with previous colds – can the brain not manage two signals or is a virus some distraction? I went with it. I got stuck into my studio!