Jude,
I am new to this bunch of great people. Have had TM for 2 years. When I
joined this webside (about 2 weeks ago), it seemed that on a daily basis people
were asking each other if there was any news about Jude. I could tell there
was a lot of concern and love from all your friends on the "list". Now,
I too, am wishing you the very best of luck and may God bless you. Janice
----- Original Message -----
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, March 17, 2009 3:58 PM
Subject: [TMIC] Judes Update
Hello Dear Ones,
Why is there no mail in my mailbox? Have you all gone to that "Face" place?
Are you at Yahoo?
Can't I count on anyone any more? All I did was go into the hospital for a
few days and when I get back, everyone seems to be gone. The List is like a
ghost town...
I would like to thank those of you who have taken the time and effort to send
me lovely cards and beautiful notes. I will cherish them for a long time. The
hospital is a lonely place and a card with well wishes goes a long way towards
making the time pass a bit faster.
Also, thank you to those of you who have called me to wish me well and to let
me know I have been missed. You have no idea what you people mean to me. I
hate naming names because I am afraid of leaving someone out, my memory is
getting worse by the hour. So, I am not going to do that. You know who you
are and how much I appreciate your signs of friendship...you keep me able to
look at life as a glass half full, if you know what I mean.
As some of you know, I have no family except for my wonderful husband, Dave.
We moved miles away from our home town because Dave wanted "property" and
shortly after I was stricken with TM...no chance to make friends with anyone.
Like all of us, I was grasping at straws, trying to find something to give me
a reason to live, something to hold on to. Finding this site, thanks to Jim
Lubin, became my lifeline. You people became my family and I had somewhere to
go where people understood what I was going through, how my life had done a
360' and in a heartbeat I didn't know who I was, where I fit in, if I even was
worthwhile to life itself.
Each and every one of you has given me a reason to continue living. You make
me think, you make me lol, you make me feel warm and comforted when I'm in
"pity party" mode. You graciously allow me to make mistakes and don't hold it
against me, and I know that I can count on you to hold me up when I get too
tired to tread water any longer.
This Friday I go in for flap surgery on the ulcers on my behind. The plastic
surgeon is not certain where he is going to find extra tissue to create the
"flap" so the outcome is up in the air. He is going to shave the bony
protubences of the ischeal tuberosities way down so that there will be less of
a chance for them to penetrate the skin in the future.
The research I have done online has not been optimistic. It sounds like in
many cases the sites open back up in a relatively short period of time. And, I
did not realize that complications due to pressure sores is the number one
cause of death in paraplegics.
In the future, my job will be to force myself to eat lots of protein and
learn to move around when I'm sitting to allow freedom of blood flow and
maintain oxygenation in the blood. No matter how hard I am being "hugged"
around my abdomen, I have to find a way to eat. I don't know how to do that
though. Dave and I are drinking those new fruit flavored protein waters which
are supposed to be an excellent source of the good stuff. And they taste
great, not all thick and gooey like Ensure and those kinds of drinks.
I am overtired and cannot go to sleep. Things keep rolling around in my
head...like what has happened to the List. As hard as Jim Lubin works, even
though he is a quadriplegic, to keep this thing going and as much gumption it
must have taken him to even begin a web site for us forsaken TM'ers, is
absolutely amazing and I for one, will not jump ship for some site where
supposedly the grass is greener.
Maybe I will be here all by myself, though I know better, but that's ok
because through you, my friends and family, I have learned to value myself
again, know how to reach out for help when I need it, and I even understand how
being a paraplegic has made me a better person, put things in the right
perspective, humbled me just a bit.
So, to those of you who make me laugh and have given life and hope to one
lost old woman, thank you again.
Hoping and Praying to wake up after surgery,
Jude
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Feeling the pinch at the grocery store? Make meals for under $10.
