Celebrating Me This Sickle Cell Awareness MonthSeptember is Sickle Cell Awareness Month and I'm choosing to celebrate me this month. I have never been the best at promoting myself. Instead, I share my story in hopes... By Halimat Olaniyan1 min readBookmark for laterReactions 0 reactions Comments0 comments
Learning to RestThere’s this stereotype of the “strong Black woman.” The one who has been through everything and knocked down over and over again but still gets back up. She thrives through... By Halimat Olaniyan3 min readBookmark for laterReactions 0 reactions Comments0 comments
Halimat Talks Periods, Birth Control, and Sickle CellThis past March, Halimat sat down to have a conversation with herself in honor of Women's History Month and International Women's Day. In this video, she reflects on how hard... By Halimat Olaniyan1 min readBookmark for laterReactions 0 reactions Comments0 comments
Presenting on Sickle Cell at ConferencesRecently, I went to the American Society of Hematology’s (ASH) Annual Meeting. It was in Atlanta, and I was only given off 3 days from school, which meant I would... By Halimat Olaniyan2 min readBookmark for laterReactions 0 reactions Comments3 comments
FOMO (Feeling of Missing Out)I have been feeling stuck and out of place a lot lately. There’s this saying about how your 20s are this whirlwind of self-discovery and trial and error. Wow, they... By Halimat Olaniyan3 min readBookmark for laterReactions 0 reactions Comments5 comments
Anything Can HappenToday was almost a bad day. Maybe it was self-induced anxiety about starting surgery, what is known as the hardest rotation of medical school – for good reason. The hours... By Halimat Olaniyan3 min readBookmark for laterReactions 0 reactions Comments2 comments
Baby FeverI have baby fever. I am not sure what is about this point in life where all my friends and peers are getting engaged or married, buying homes, and having... By Halimat Olaniyan2 min readBookmark for laterReactions 0 reactions Comments2 comments
How to Care for Sickle Cell Patients: Interview With Dr. Andrew CampbellIn this video, I am joined by Dr. Andrew Campbell, the Director of the Comprehensive Sickle Cell Program at Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C. Before his move to Washington... By Halimat Olaniyan1 min readBookmark for laterReactions 0 reactions Comments2 comments
May Is National Mental Health MonthMay is National Mental Health Month. Join Patient Leader Halimat as she checks in with herself. Making healthy habits is hard. Taking care of ourselves is a full-time job we... By Halimat Olaniyan1 min readBookmark for laterReactions 0 reactions Comments2 comments
Meeting Others With Sickle CellAs a child, I felt I was the only person in the world with sickle cell anemia. Silly me. It wasn’t completely my fault, though. I hadn’t met anyone else... By Halimat Olaniyan2 min readBookmark for laterReactions 0 reactions Comments8 comments
DecisionsBefore medical school, the biggest decisions are deciding if you want to go to medical school, where to apply, and then hopefully, you get into more than one school and... By Halimat Olaniyan3 min readBookmark for laterReactions 0 reactions Comments2 comments
Multidisciplinary Approaches to Caring for Sickle Cell Patient: An Interview With Dr. Sharon SinghI sat with Dr. Sharon Singh, my previous pediatric hematologist and the head of the sickle cell team at the University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, to discuss... By Halimat Olaniyan1 min readBookmark for laterReactions 0 reactions Comments0 comments
Recovering from Heart BreakI have a broken heart. It’s crazy because I genuinely thought I was done with those. I thought I had met and was finally with the man I was going... By Halimat Olaniyan3 min readBookmark for laterReactions 0 reactions Comments4 comments
Temperamental Temperatures: Weather and Sickle CellThe weather in the Midwest is just about as unpredictable as sickle cell pain is. It’s March, so it makes sense that it would be a little cold and I... By Halimat Olaniyan2 min readBookmark for laterReactions 0 reactions Comments0 comments
Working on My FitnessThe best my health has ever been was in D.C., before starting medical school. I mean, there are lots of reasons why this makes sense. I had a steady, though... By Halimat Olaniyan3 min readBookmark for laterReactions 0 reactions Comments3 comments
Making Time for Healthcare AppointmentsWith sickle cell, time is always of the essence. Life is unpredictable but even more so when you have an unpredictable chronic illness. You never know how much time you... By Halimat Olaniyan2 min readBookmark for laterReactions 0 reactions Comments2 comments
Physical ActivityI like to believe that having sickle cell doesn’t at all limit my potential. That if I really want to do something, then I can. However, I have to say... By Halimat Olaniyan2 min readBookmark for laterReactions 0 reactions Comments13 comments
FatigueWhen I was little, and I would get sick, my mother would hardly ever let me skip school. She’d push me to get up and get ready, saying it would... By Halimat Olaniyan3 min readBookmark for laterReactions 0 reactions Comments0 comments
Fearfulness vs. FearlessnessSometimes I worry that I am living my life in fear. In fear of triggering a sickle cell attack, of not being able to do something I want because of... By Halimat Olaniyan3 min readBookmark for laterReactions 0 reactions Comments5 comments
Overcoming AnxietyIf you’ve read some of my other posts, you may know I have sickle cell anemia and anxiety. The thought of having multiple chronic illnesses is enough to make me... By Halimat Olaniyan3 min readBookmark for laterReactions 0 reactions Comments2 comments