I've wanted to respond to this all week. Jo, as usual you have so eloquently put into words what we all needed to read. Thank God for you.
I would like to suggest that all newcomers to this site read Karla's story on the quilt. When I first found this forum I was so confused as to what was happening to me. I encountered a wonderful group of women who reached out, embraced and welcomed me. I'm not going to start naming all the names - you know who you are....
When I read Karla's story, my whole painfilled world changed. Firstly, I got over MY pity party real quick. Secondly, I couldn't get it out of my mind - how in her search for less (or at least a tolerable level of) pain, which in my opinion is a state that every person should have a right to, Karla suffered more and more with each surgery. I found myself praying for her - for some farfetched miracle to drop from the skys and heal her. One person should not suffer as Karla has done.
What had the greatest impact on me about Karla was the fact that regardless of her pain, here she was helping us all out on the forum. She reminded us to be cautious, gave us helpful hints from her experience, and just plain shared with us. I, for one, miss her.
I wonder if she reads the forum still? If she does, I want her to know that she's helped us all so much.... I want Karla to know, that although I realize she's very ill, I'd like her to come back - even if just to say hi and let us know how she is doing. Karla, I don't think you really know how many people you've helped, and how much we appreciate and miss you.
Wishing everyone some pain free moments....
At Tue, 11 Dec 2001, Wally wrote:
>
>This afternoon I sat down to read Karla’s story. >(sorry, I snipped for space)>It’s time for us to be more active in our daily pain therapy and find
>alternative ways to deal with it and reduce our need for high doses of
>pain medication that can often leave us with clouded thought processes
>and can interfere with our memory retention and reflexes. The
>suggestions within these pages are of our own design, having been
>derived through natural process and absorption of new layers of pain
>added as Karla & I have discovered as a natural progression and
>escalation of our pain and disabilities.
>
>--
>P.S. I'm not a doctor or medical person, just a fellow
>adhesions sufferer who really wants better treatment
>for us all.
>
-- csheedy