Missouri
Rhonda Loggia

My name is Rhonda Loggia and I have TM.  I am one of the lucky ones.  I can still walk and live an almost normal life, that is, of course, except for the lingering pain and the fear that one day I will have a second occurrence.  These have become for me a new normal that I have learned to accept.

One Wednesday morning, just a little over two years ago, I woke up thinking it would be a day like any other.  A couple of hours later, I started feeling poorly and by that afternoon, I was in the emergency room with an indescribable pain in my chest.  The doctors did all of the standard testing for heart trouble.  Then they sent me home after the markers were negative with an admonition to go and visit my regular doctor the next day.  By the time I saw my doctor, I had no feeling from the chest down.  She did the standard x-rays and then sent me home.  On Monday I went back to the emergency room and the ER doctor said that he would not let me go until they finally figured out what the problem was.  Many hours and tests later, I heard the words MS and then finally TM.  They started IV steroids and sent me home three days later with lots of pain and tons of questions.

No one could tell me what to expect next and no one could tell me if I would get any better.  I read everything I could on the internet and the TMA website.  The TMA website provided the most helpful information.  There I found others who had been through what I was going through, and I found insight into what I could reasonably expect for the future.  I found others with the same plight and same symptoms.  Most of these people had more difficult symptoms than I did.  The road to recovery is hard and it’s uncertain.  With the help of others and from answers I found on the TMA website, I was able to get my life back on track.  There remain unanswered questions. 

After two plus years, I am 95% recovered.  I want to start a Missouri Support Group.  I have always looked to see if there were others from Missouri who had joined the TMA, and I would like to start the group so that there is a contact point for those of us in this state.  This group is just getting started, so I would love to have your suggestions and input.  Please feel free to contact me at any time. 

Rhonda Loggia
303 Wildhorse Canyon Dr.
Wildwood, MO 63005
(636) 537-8471
rloggia@aol.com