Hi Ali,

I just wanted you to know how sorry I am for the loss of your grandfather. I was close to your age when my grandfather passed away. and that was 45 years ago. I often think of him, a gentle man, loved animinals, I spent every weekend on the farm, riding my horse, collecting eggs, helping feed all the animals.It was wonderful.

That's one thing that has helped me pass over the depression. being grateful for the many good things and people, the wonderful memories, obviously I have more years on you. I never give up hope for you. Have you been checking into HBOT. I talked to Diana A and was very encouraged. My pain mang. Dr. I see once a month, has just ordered two HBO hospital grade for two clinics he is building. He is a neurologist, pharmacologist, and psychiatrist. teaches regularly, and part time practice. The Two HBO's will be within 10 minutes where we live.I've very excited about it and now looking into our insurance.

We have one daughter, age 29, and are very close. We both were very active physically before I got RSD. She is married now and has a wonderful husband. My husband and daughter have both been with me to the Dr. and have done research on their own about RSD. It makes me sad they are so knowledgable. She is a court reporter and has done a deposition on a lady with RSD. I don't think it's a job any of us could handle, but very interesting due to the variety of subjects and ongoing knowledge. Her husband is a commercial airline pilot. I was injured 4 months after they married, water skiing, and was in remission before that, so we traveled a lot together, the 3 of us. My husband takes good care of me like your mom. She sounds so sweet.

Take care of yourself. Do you have skin lesions? I've had a rough two weeks and broke out in blisters WOW hurts. I have full body RSD, fibromyalgia, and left temple trigeminal nerve( bottom part of my face to half the lips.

Do you have opportunity to swim in warm water? pt in water is just the best and easiest on your body. We live in Arizona and have a pool, so it's wonderful to keep stretching and keeping the limbs moving. The only one that is permanently paralyzed is my left hand, kind of like a claw. had both shoulders frozen, but with about 150 pt treatments got nearly all use back. We really can slowly keep moving and not give up. I can cut up food, and have desensitized my whole body. It was worth it and massage therapy, played a huge part in it.

I have a cat named Sabrina, She is a maincoon cat, very 'one person' animal. She sleeps every night with me and has long fur and very affectionate.

I want you to know I read every one of your posts and enjoy them. What I see is your sincerity and caring manner. Your kindness and softness shows thru in all your letters. That's why everyone is drawn to you and feels so compassionate toward you. It hurts us all so much you have this at such a young age. We want you to have the freedom of health and youth that belongs to you. So keep stretching and doing what your Dr. encourages you to do. It's stuff managing that 'Stress' stuff isn't it. We all have it , it's how we react to it that makes the difference. I went into counseling after my partents died, and it helped a lot and then about 4-5 years ago I started again, to help deal with RSD in a positive way and focus on the positive the grateful things to think about.

Take care, Alison. Get your rest and pace yourself on your school work. Friends, Loretta Jewell