Twenty four years ago today
Larry Throne (lbthrone(AT)hotmail.com)
Sun, 27 Sep 1998 15:58:58 PDT
I had been working for a construction company for just a couple of months.
I was eighteen and it was my first really good job. We were building a power plant in southeastern Oklahoma, they were behind schedule and had us working seven days a week, twelve hours a day. I was young, healthy and making good money. I thought I had nothing to worry about.
It had been a wet rainy summer and everyone on the crew had been fighting a summer flu, I was just beginning to feel the aches and pains on friday morning when I went to work. (hmmm) On saturday, I just felt terrible. My head was pounding, i had no energy and I was perspiring profusely. I went on to work but shortly after lunch I had a fainting spell. My boss sent me home. I went to bed at 2:00 pm and slept straight through to sunday afternoon when my father came in to check on me. It was after 5:00 pm.
When I awoke, I couldn't urinate, my bladder was distended and I had a fever. Dad took me to the E.R. and I was catheterized. The ER doctor sent home and told to return the next day for testing.
The next morning our family Doctor was calling , he had talked with the E.R. doc and was concerned, he wanted me there at the hospital asap. Over the next 24 hours everyone at the hospital in Ada Oklahoma had poked, prodded and examined me, I think the janitor even had his turn. They did a spinal tap (those sure are nice aren't they!) When I woke up the second day, I was paralyzed from the waist down.
I was transferred to Oklahoma City, St Antony Hospital. In the next 4 weeks, I went from being a strapping 190lb construction worker to a 130lb paraplegic.
The first week or two, I was really sick. My fever got so high they packed me in ice to attempt to break it.
I remember coming in & out of a coma and the pain was unbearable. It felt as though a spike was being shoved up my spine. Luckily I don't remember everything from that period. Everything was getting dark and I remember telling my brother something was sitting on my chest. I just couldn't breath. I vaguely remember having the respirator placed on me, I remember the fear I had of not knowing what was happening, and not being able to see or speak.
Late that night, an overwhelming feeling of comfort and reassurance came over me, it was God telling me to trust in him and everything would be okay.
I was totally blind for two weeks and on a respirator for four of those days. Then one day there was a flicker of light! For the next 4 days, as if a large hand were drawing back a curtain, I was getting my sight back, I remember focussing on my mother, she was so, happy and worried at the same time.
The paralysis started moving back down my chest, They took me off the respirator & eventually the paralysis stopped at T-5.
I had been in the hospital for almost 4 weeks before I heard anything about TM, a doctor from Mayo clinic was visiting ST Antony and he Diagnosed the TM. I never did get his name, nor do I remember seeing him.
The next year was filled with endless hours in PT with little spurts of progress like the time I first moved my big toe. You would have thought I'd jumped up and danced a jig the way we were acting.
That was the start.
In the next year (year 2), I went from walking with leg braces up to my chest to walking with a single cane. I still have the leg spasms, lack of complete sensation & the back pain some of you have, also my bladder control could be better. But hey, I'll take anything I can get!
Ten years after I was Diagnosed with TM, I was in a airplane crash,(whole nuther story by itself), I cracked my pelvis and was really sore from one end to the other. That experience has really slowed me down. Today, I use my chair more than I ever have. Only walking around the house or office and taking real close eye on how I do things. I also suffer from the fatigue some of you have complained about. Its makes life hard when you feel like your running on empty all the time.
Today, I'm married to a wonderful girl and we have two children and two grand children. I manage a mental health clinic specializing in working with children and families with emotional problems. I am working on a masters degree at the University of Oklahoma. (social work)
In the past 24 years I have traveled over most of this country and to many different countries around the world. Sailing has been my release valve, I have sailed at most of the locations where I have traveled.
I have taught sailing to over 100 people including 29 emotionally disturbed kids I taught last summer. It was great!
I have had plenty of bad times and good times. I'v been able to go on with life. TM has slowed me down a little but I'm probably a much richer person because of it. I'v learned to enjoy and appreciate what is in front of me.
I see the the beauty of the smallest flowers as I'v struggled past them, when most never notice. I'v smelled the fragrance of the spring days, warmth the of the summer sun, & the sting of a winters breeze & understood the significance of it all.
Its been a long lonely trail, in the past 24 years I have only met, conversed or heard of only about 10 or 11 people with TM. Finding this group has has given me a since of belonging. I feel as though I've found my family. Only you guys can fully understand the fears, frustrations, and yes, the fortunes of having this disorder. It is great to have found my home.
Larry Throne
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