new member

geoff brown (geoff12274(AT)yahoo.com)
Tue, 16 Jun 1998 09:51:50 -0700 (PDT)

Hi to everyone. I am glad to have found the tmic and the tma. I came
down with tm on July 4, 1988. It seems like just yesterday and ages
ago at the same time- I can't believe it has been 10 years. I woke
up on that morning to pins n needles in my legs that got progressively
worse over an hour or so. By the time we got to the hospital, I was
completely paralyzed from the waist down. It took 5 days of tests to
dx tm. I received iv steroids to reduce the swelling - I don't
remember for how long. My right leg came back to nearly 100% in a
week or so, but the left did not. After being transferred to a rehab
hospital, I got to where I could walk in a long leg brace and
crutches. I slowly got to where I was walking around quite a bit with
no assistance. It went downhill from there though. I began having
back, knee, hip , and ankle pain and became quite depressed and pretty
much gave up on therapy. To make a very long story a little shorter,
I'm now seeing another physical therapist who is giving me some
stretching and a little strength exercises to do. Doing them
especially the stretching helps. I was 13 years old when this all
began, so I guess that explains some of my poor attitude in dealing
with it. I look forward to hearing from some of you- both to find
some info for myself, and to encourage new tm patients to keep a
positive attitude and do whatever you can to try and get better. I am
now trying to make up for lost time (and not dwell on the time I lost)
and get to feeling as good as possible. I'm sorry for my rambling - I
TRIED to keep this short, as the long version would be twice this
long! Anyway, I look forward to getting involved in the tmic and
hearing from you soon. thank you, Geoff

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