It was summer of 97, August 8 to be exact. That day is forever seared into my brain, much more than the important dates in my relationship with my husband. I was a happy in my work in graduate school, and was riding home on my bike from a day in the lab when this idiot uninsured 17 year old rammed me with his car. I sprained a lot of bits of my body, but my wrist was unusual. The pain of the sprain wasn't going way. The doctors thought possible ligament damage, so surgery happened. It wasn't that. Unfortunately, the surgery was the worst possible thing to happen. The pain increased and it was about a year before I got a diagnosis. I had RSDS, Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Sydrome, officially known as CRPS-I, or Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome-I. I then got the wrong treatment for almost a year after that. RSD has a very small window for successful treatment, and that treatment has to be started within three months of diagnosis. This condition is extremely painful. It manifests, for me, with massive burning sensation, about the level of a second degree burn. That is the worst part about having it, and I do have other problems from it as well that are secondary in annoyance. The worst of those is that I seem to be wrecking my shoulder joints because I constantly hold my arms stiffly in response to the constant pain. The RSD spread from that right wrist, up my arm and into my other arm, and it's across my back as well. I'm at the point where palliative measures are no longer working, and I need to have some electrodes jammed into my spinal cord, with a battery pack the size of a credit card and a quarter inch thick put into my belly.

To top this off, I'm also deaf, which in itself isn't much of an issue. I was late deafened, so my speech and English skills are excellent for someone who is deaf. And I'm deaf, not Deaf, but accepted by the Deaf, though they call me HOH or hard of hearing becuase my voice is good, not becuase I can't hear much at all.

Next post, my research interests, or maybe my dog interests. Have to decide.