Will I ever be able to do anything of substance again? That question sits on my chest like a weight. Not rhetorical. Just the math of a life measured in what I don’t have. I don’t know. I’m still here asking. #LongCOVID #MECFS #ChronicIllness #Spoonie #PwME

Woke up feeling ok. Sorted & took out the recycling, brought in the trash can, sorted the mail. Four small tasks. That's the whole list. With #LongCOVID & #MECFS, "feeling ok" kills tomorrow's energy today. This is what invisible illness actually costs. #PostExertionalMalaise #ChronicIllness #PwME

I’ve counted what #LongCOVID & #MECFS has taken. This counts the other column. The hour with my wife. A reader who gets the joke. A memory I can hold in an empty house. Not a recovery story. Just the light, counted at the same scale as the loss. #PwME darthfoo.substack.com/p/the-small-...

Happy Father’s Day to all the Dad’s out there.

😔

I’ve counted what #LongCOVID & #MECFS has taken. This counts the other column. The hour with my wife. A reader who gets the joke. A memory I can hold in an empty house. Not a recovery story. Just the light, counted at the same scale as the loss. #PwME darthfoo.substack.com/p/the-small-...

The piece and the dialogue around it have taken a lot out of me. I’ve genuinely appreciated every thoughtful response. I may be slow to reply for a bit while I rest. Thank you all. #MECFS #LongCovid #PEM #PwME darthfoo.substack.com/p/the-patien...

The piece and the dialogue around it have taken a lot out of me. I’ve genuinely appreciated every thoughtful response. I may be slow to reply for a bit while I rest. Thank you all. #MECFS #LongCovid #PEM #PwME darthfoo.substack.com/p/the-patien...

For years I was told the way out of this illness was effort. Push through. Build up. Don’t give in. Here’s where that led: “The danger now is not trying too little. It is having tried too hard, for too long, on the theory that effort was the cure.” darthfoo.substack.com/p/the-patien...

This explains A LOT. Levinovitz's new book is called 'Demons by another name: Biology, belief & stories make us sick.' It is clear that brain retaining fits the argument that he is making: that what was deemed as demons are still making us sick & the mind can miracle cure 1/8

They call us obstacles to progress. I’m enrolled in the research. My response to WIRED’s “The Painful Truth About Long Covid.” darthfoo.substack.com/p/the-patien... #LongCOVID #MECFS #Wired #PEM #CBT #GET

Nearly 4AM. The muscle, joint and nerve pain is making sleep impossible. This is life with #LongCOVID and #MECFS. #PwME

This was my reality before FSD. From my new essay, The Tools That Fit. “There were shifts where I slept in the car afterward. Not because I wanted to. Because I had to.” #LongCOVID #MECFS #PwME #ChronicIllness #Tesla darthfoo.substack.com/p/the-tools-...

Incremental gains are core to being a #pwME &/or a #pwLC Every tiny bit of energy, friction, sludge I shave off can decide if I have the energy to enjoy my tiny life or am just surviving. For me it’s things like coffee left for me in a travel mug, HUE lights, the Visible app, & an ecobee thermostat.

Saw #TheMandalorian and #Grogu today. A lot of fun, & a real celebration of every era of #StarWars. Original Trilogy, Prequels, Clone Wars, Sequels, & of course Mando and Grogu fans all get something. Wanted it to push the story forward more, but it’s a wonderful entry point.

Tesla Full Self Driving (FSD) wasn't built for #LongCOVID or #MECFS. The Visible band was. For someone managing energy-limiting illness, both quietly changed the math of my daily life. darthfoo.substack.com/p/the-tools-... #PwME #Technology #TeslaFSD #ChronicIllness #Disabilities #InvisibleIllness

New essay is up. This one is about the #technology that changed the math. “Neither of these is a fix. But both of them fit.” #LongCOVID #MECFS #ChronicIllness #PwME darthfoo.substack.com/p/the-tools-...

Today is a hard one. Struggling more than usual. Still sending good thoughts to everyone out there. Be well. #LongCOVID #MECFS #PwME #ChronicIllness youtu.be/i1mosSw4Hh4?...

Heartbreaking news about #ClaudeLemieux. You never know what someone is carrying. Check on the people you love. If you’re struggling, call or text 988. www.tmz.com/2026/05/28/c... #Empathy #Kindness

#LongCOVID #MECFS #PwME #PEM #Pacing #StarWars #Grief substack.com/@darthfoo/no...

Invisible Weight, Lyrics: Fred Rossi “I wake with the sun but I don’t feel awake. Every step I take feels like a small mistake The world keeps moving, I just stand still In this quiet battle no one thinks is real.” #MECFS #LongCOVID #PwME #InvisibleIllness darthfoo.substack.com/p/invisible-...

The Mandalorian and Grogu opens this week. I won’t be there opening day. That breaks a streak going back to Return of the Jedi in 1983. Over forty years of first-day Star Wars. Small loss. Still real. Grogu will wait. #StarWars #PwME

#LongCovid #MECFS #PwME substack.com/@darthfoo/no...

Been in a crash. Still climbing out. There’s grief in it, about what’s changed, what’s coming, what I don’t get to choose. I’m not rushing through it. #LongCovid #MECFS #PEM #Disabled #ChronicIllness #Change darthfoo.substack.com/p/the-debt-c...

“The worst grief in a crash is not being unable to move. It is being unable to be who you are.” From my latest essay, The Inventory of Loss. #LongCOVID #MECFS #PwME #ChronicIllness #ChronicPain #InvisibleIllness #Grief #Disability #Spoonie darthfoo.substack.com/p/the-invent...

A quote from my new piece, The Inventory of Loss. “The grief is ongoing because the illness is ongoing, and new losses arrive as old ones calcify into something you have learned to carry.” darthfoo.substack.com/p/the-invent... #LongCOVID #MECFS #PwME

Some debts are financial. Some are physical. This one is about what chronic illness actually takes, catalogued honestly, without softening it. “You grieve the ability to just feel things without doing math first.” #LongCOVID #MECFS #PwME darthfoo.substack.com/p/the-invent...

HUGE win tonight boys. Let’s win another one in Philly on Wednesday. When we play our game, we’re hard to play against. #LetsGoPens @pittsburghpenguins.bsky.social

You know that feeling when you didn’t hear what you wanted to hear from your doctor? 🙋‍♂️ #LongCOVID #MECFS #PwME

#ChronicIllness, being confined to a bed, and my #PittsburghPenguins losing to the hated #Flyers. I’m depressed. #LongCOVID #MECFS #PwME

The @penguinsnhl.bsky.social have looked terrible. They’re are being out played & out coached. The Flyers have us playing their game. They deserve to win. Tocchet deserves the Jack Adams. Dubas needs to get us faster & younger. I fear that means Geno has to go. We better have an active offseason.

A quote from my piece, The Debt Came Due, about navigating #PEM. “I want to be honest about this because the people who read what I write deserve honesty more than they deserve a tidy narrative about resilience. I am depressed.” #LongCOVID #MECFS #PwME #Depressed substack.com/@darthfoo/p-...

Can’t wait for Monday!! #LetsGoPens

My pain is bad tonight, I can’t sleep. I’m thinking back to my essay about long term #MECFS patients, Those Who Were Already Here. I’m grateful to and devastated for those I’ve encountered from this community. #LongCOVID #PwME #ChronicIllness substack.com/@darthfoo/p-...

A quote from my piece, The Debt Came Due. “There is a version of my life that exists in my memory like a photograph from a trip I’ll never take again. In that version, I wake up and get out of bed without negotiating with my body first.” #LongCOVID #MECFS #PEM #PwME substack.com/home/post/p-...

I’m with #DonaldTrump on this one. Every one of my doctors use this treatment method. #DrTrump

It takes nearly 4 hours round trip to see my #LongCOVID & #MECFS specialist. Beth moves her patients around to make it happen. Yesterday, my doctor was frustrated with me, and she earned it. I’ve been selective about her recommendations. She reminded me why that’s dangerous. I won’t forget it. #PwME

Boys showed up HUGE tonight. When this team plays its game, nobody can stop us. Let’s lock in, finish strong, and own Round 1. Only downside? My ugly, patchy as fuck beard is coming back. #LetsGoPens @pittsburghpenguins.bsky.social

IT. IS. TIME. Welcome to the 2026 edition of The Beast. ◽️ 402 profiles ◽️ 2,700 rankings ◽️ 45,000 verified measurements ◽ 300,000 words It’s the world’s most detailed NFL Draft guide, from @danebrugler.bsky.social. www.nytimes.com/athletic/int...

The Wednesday morning @dejankovacevic.bsky.social DAILY SHOT OF #PittsburghPenguins podcast can be found right here on Bluesky:

😏

A quote from my piece, The Debt Came Due, about the current #PEM crash I’m navigating. “I find purpose in helping others. It is the through-line of my entire professional life, from child protective work to retail management.” #LongCOVID #MECFS #PwME substack.com/home/post/p-...

“There is a particular cruelty in being too sick from a disease to advocate for awareness of that disease on the day set aside for exactly that purpose.” substack.com/home/post/p-...

A quote from my piece, The Debt Came Due. “There is a version of my life that exists in my memory like a photograph from a trip I’ll never take again. In that version, I wake up and get out of bed without negotiating with my body first.” #LongCOVID #MECFS #PEM #PwME substack.com/home/post/p-...

Migraine. Burning nerves. Can’t be upright. Moving feels like fighting double gravity. This is a normal Sunday with Long COVID and ME/CFS. There is nothing inspiring about it. It just hurts. #LongCOVID #MECFS #ChronicIllness #InvisibleIllness #PwME

Deep in a #PEM crash at the moment. Not upright, barely eating, flat on my back resting and recovering. Will this ever get better? #LongCOVID #MECFS #PwME

Having some déjà vu...another one for BLowe!

FIRST HOMER OF THE SEASON GOES TO BRANDON LOWE!