Thanks for the note of encouragement. You don't know how scared I was about
getting that flu shot last fall. You were wondering my history. Well, here
goes. In 1961, I was born with congenitally dislocated hips, feet bent
backwards towards my shin, clubfeet, and a heart murmur. Well, Mom took me
and loved me warts and all. As an infant I suffered seizures and
encephalitis. When I was around 11 months old I received smallpox and flu
shots within around 3 weeks apart. Next thing Mom knew I was paralyzed from
the chest down, grunting (not crying). I was dxed with Guilianne-Barre
syndrome -- only to find out recently I was misdiagnosed and really had Acute
Transverse Myelitis. I was on digoxin for heart problems (racing heart) and
Trancopal for the spasticity. I regained manual dexterity and arm strength
first. (Doctor is supposed to have laughed watching me pick up pennies during
one demonstration.) As a child I dragged myself around on my belly until my
toes were carpet burned and bloody. I was three before I walked at all. My
feelings have returned throughout the years, but spasticity has remained.
Have gone from knee-braces to Canadian crutches to finally a wheelchair by
age 15. I have a power wheelchair for work and outside the home,and my
trusty teal-blue Ride-Lite 9000 for home use. The doctors were going to
replace my hips at 18, but they didn't think I'd live till then. Am very
overweight (over 300 lbs.), have help caring for me once I'm at home for the
evenings and manage to teach school full time (middle school special ed.).
After all this, I thank God for his blessings and realize I'm in good shape
for the shape I'm in (pear that it is ;-) ) There are people in a lot worse
shape, even within keystroke. I plan to learn to drive my new '98 Windstar
IMS-converted Rampvan this summer. Yay!! Keep me in your prayers, Kris. (I
hope I didn't bore you too much with the details, but you wanted a background
story, and this is pretty much my story. If you think anyone's interested
you can post this.)
P.S. I recently asked for help/encouragement in my pursuit to shed this
excess poundage on the list, but I think that post turned everybody off. No
replies, not a "you go girl!", or even a "shut up and go away". It's awfully
hard to exercise when the more you exercise the more your muscles spaz up,
and I don't think I'm quite ready for the baclofen pump. I'll continue mine
orally for a while, thanks. :-)