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TJ's Story
I do not remember much from that time, well actually nothing at all, just what I was told happened. When I was born they noticed somthing was wrong, they even went so far as to tell my parents that I should just be instatuionalized cause I would never walk.
Well allot they knew cause I have walked most of my life, even in the full body casts that they put me in. I have always been one to never be kept down. I guess it was just deturmination. Now I am not so sure it was not just stupidity, because now I have to deal with all the pain.
When I was born I was diagnosed with CHD, club foot, then to top it all off I was born with out the left knee. By december they found out I also had spina-bifida -what a combination. They started out by putting me in traction, hoping that it would help with my hip, but ended up with surgury and a body cast. Rrom there they tried to reconstruct my feet to make them more usable but all that did was make them less usable and more painful.
About when I was 10 my hip popped out of place, so I got second surgury where they put a pin and plate in, but they had to take it out early becuase the bone was starting to burry it. Then they put the body cast back on for another 6 months or so, they thought. But by the 4th month I was tired of not being able to sit all the way up or lay all the way down. For christmas that year I got a little tool set that had a tiny little hammer that I used to break my cast so that I could sit down right. That earned me an ambulence ride to a hospital, traction for several hours, more x-rays and a new body cast for another 4 months.
When I was 14 my hip started clicking -went to the doctors and they said that the joint would have to be replaced, but by that time finding a doctor to work on me, well that was like finding a unicorn in the amazon.
I am still hoping someone finds that wonderful mythical creature!
But now I am 34 years of age and well my condition is to the point I can not sit for more then an hour, can not stand more then 10 minutes and well, I can not even put on my own shoes and socks. Trying to find a doctor that will do an amputation from the knee down and a total hip replacement, so that I may be able to sit up straight and maybe even be able to bend down with out sharp pains shooting up and down my leg and back.
I hope that this story helps someone in some small way or another. I am always willing to answer questions that I might know the answers to or help find information for people, just let me know.
(If you'd like to leave a message for TJ, you can do so by joining the Support Group. Membership is free. )
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