Regards, Errol in Sunny Queensland.
-----Original Message-----
From: Larry Throne <lbthrone(AT)hotmail.com>
To: tmic-list(AT)eskimo.com <tmic-list(AT)eskimo.com>
Cc: cptskipy(AT)chickasaw.com <cptskipy(AT)chickasaw.com>
Date: Sunday, September 27, 1998 3:20 PM
Subject: Twenty four years ago today
>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
>schedual 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, proded 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 paralized from the wiast down.
>I was transfered 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 vaugely remember having the respirator place 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 overwelming 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 and on a respirator for the next 10 - 12 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 paralisis started moving back down my chest, They took me off the
>resirator & eventually the paralisis stopped at T-5.
> I had been in the hospital for almsot 4 weeks before I heard anything
>about TM, a doctor from Mayo clinic was visiting ST Antony and he Dx 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 Dx with TM, I was in a airplane crash,(whole
>nuther story by itself), I cracked my pelvis and broke some other bones.
>That has really slowed me down. While in the hospital over that episode
>my doc showed me x-rays of my knees. I was wearing them out by locking
>them back to walk. He told me if I want to keep walking, I had better
>start riding in my chair, at least for when I go for long distance
>walks.
> A couple of years ago I fell down and almost ripped the cartilage in
>one of my knees. Once again, my doc told me to take it easier on my
>knees. Today, I use my chair more than I ever have. Only walking
>around the house and taking real close eye on how I do things. I also
>suffer from the fatique 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 second 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 i have traveled to.
>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 richer
>person because of it. I'v learned to enjoy and appriciate 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 fragance
>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'v 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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