Wow Barbara, thanks incredible! It makes me want to think about how that can apply to so many other situations too. I wonder how often we can be like that lady towards other situation like homeless people, someone fighting other types of illness or simply someone of a different background, believe, or thinking perspective -- even the hard to get along types that we'd just not rather deal with. I guess I'm using "we" rather than I - but I'm just thinking outloud - or on paper.
I had simular experiences except I've been very lucky! I'm now walking and getting around - and outside of pain and sometimes triping, stumbling or having coordination problems, I feel fit as a fiddle. However, I DO remember right before the MS / TM hit that a lot of symptoms were showing up. My boss and others at the school that I thought would point them out in front of a crowd of people - like during factulty meetings. I was even called in the office and repremanded because i was studdering, forgetting names, "pausing in the middle of sentences" and doing other "unacceptable" ... "unprofessional" things. I was even told "at your age and with your experience, you should know better by this time." At my next job, the guy would car pooled with me would get irritated about how long it took me to get out of my car, how long it took me to amber to his vehicle, and then again - getting into the car. "Come on Rankin, we don't have all day!" Then he would preach about me to work about how I reallyed "needed to do something about" my walking gate and how that stuff like that will hurt my teaching in front of kids and principals. It DIDN'T in front of the kids. They were sympothic for the most part. But my boss, felt VERY uneasy and uncomfortable and once even implied that I might be "trying to get attention." In my second year after the TM diagnose, I started having colon problems. A month later i could no longer pee on my own and got very very sick. At a DOCTOR'S office, I felt scrutiny because the neither the nurse nor the doctor could figure out, as they put it "how a man my age could have a serious urinary tract infection." They hunted for STDs and went that route but found NOTHING. Nevertheless, i could FEEL how they changed towards me after they begin to suspect STD. I could see the wheels in their eyes turning ... single ... young male ... UTI .... oh, I bet he is one of those. They gave me meds and when the meds ran out - I got sick again but this time I went to a specialist who took 5 seconds to conclude that it was neurological. So even at the doctor's office you can experience that - sad to say. When I went back to work, after the next hospitalization, I had to explain to my boss that I had to self-catherize myself. It was a horrible experience for me in multiple ways. He stopped me and said that he didn't want to know any more and then he started looking for ways to get rid of me. I had to stay in my room with kids and then if I had to go to the bathroom, I would have to call to get someone to watch me. They just wouldn't get the point about the situation. The principal just expected it to go away and if it wouldn't - they wanted me to go away. They got tired of me having to run to the bathroom every half hour. Once, I tried to wait and suddenly I realized that I was peeing on myself so I never did that again. The kids noticed too but they knew what was going on and didn't make a fuss about it which suprised me. So yes I bet every single TM'r MS'r and all the other neurological problems, diabetics ect. have simular stories. Now that I am doing well, hopefully not just for the moment, I am trying to make a point at apply good threatment to every person that I meet because I don't know their situation but I remember what mine was and know what some others deal with. --- On Sat, 7/5/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [TMIC] Three-Year Mark To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [email protected] Date: Saturday, July 5, 2008, 5:38 AM Hello Naomi, Believe me, this subject of lack of support and loss of family and friends has come up on TMIC many times. For some it has been suggested that it is a lack of understanding that our bodies may be different but the rest of us really isn't. Some look pretty normal and people don't believe that they really have issues to deal with. Others just can't accept that have a disability and cannot cope with it. I lost what I thought was a fairly good friend who just couldn't stand to be around me once I got TM and was wheelchair bound. She was so uncomfortable. It's not like I/we called everyone we knew and told them about my TM so she didn't know. When we saw her in a mall and I was in the wheelchair she thought that it was due to me being overweight. Well, I wasn't that overweight but I had trouble with my back prior tp this. When I told her what had happened, she couldn't get away fast enough. She never called to see how I was or anything. We saw her again in the mall and the same thing happened. So, I just blamed it on her ignorance, as she was a very vain person and perhaps cannot deal with people who aren't perfect. Her loss cause I'm fabulous! Hang in there, you are very fortunate to have a husband and mother to be there for you now. There are many who are alone without even that support. Hugs, Barbara A Gas prices getting you down? Search AOL Autos for fuel-efficient used cars.
