Hi FC,
I'm so glad you have contacted our loving family, so we can welcome you and offer any kind of support, listening ear, or experiences we have had that has either helped or hurt us.
I, like yourself, got RSD following surgery. It's a tough blow, for anyone, but being a Mom, I especially have a warm place in my heart to younger ones getting this monster. I'm 61 and have had it 14 years. Before RSD, my daughter and I were playing tennis 5 days a week, water skiing, snow skiing, traveling, aerobics, we were on the move. It was tough losing all of that, but now I'm just so grateful we got to do so much together. Our family traveled a lot, and Laura and I were enjoyed so much together, hubby too, but he wasn't into sports.
I went right into physical therapy, although wasn't diagnosed for 4 years. Had frozen shoulder and 100 therapy sessions and 100 massage therapy. torture Then remission, got full range back. I was even back to tennis and skiing, then other shoulder, more therapy, torture, and a 2nd remission. I'm so grateful as it allowed me to feel normal, planning her wedding and enjoying all that entails. We even traveled-the 4 of us after the wedding.
Laura graduated with BA also and has been a court reporter going in her 10th year. Have you ever thought of being a scopist? Laura doesn't work full time for a judge-she does depositions for various attorneys. She takes home her deposition and does the transcribing at home. A lot of reporters sub-contract that part out. So you need to learn the language of a stenographer. A lot of it is realtime. So you just need to proof it for grammar and make the transcript. People that do this have several reporters as clients and the e-mail back and forth the depo's and finished product. Laura has a proofer for grammar that goes over her work.People that do this work get paid by the page. If you are interested in this type of work, I know a couple ladies that do this work. I have no interest for myself or my daughter, just idea of work that people can do at home, and at a pace that matches your ability pain wise.
My daughter likes the freedom of the work. She works for a firm that has about 20 reporters. If you are interested in speaking to someone who does this work, I can get a phone number for you. Again, there are certain jobs that you can be at home and on your bad days have the freedom of not working. Regular jobs have a turn around time of 10 working days, Then there is the 5 work day turn around then there is the next day job.
On one of our trips, I bought a shoe called mephesto. It's a sandle type shoe that we walked everywhere on. They are a wonderful walking shoe,@$200, but that's all we wore for 3 weeks in Europe-before RSD.
I going to try the HBOT as soon as I grow our business back. The economy took a toll on us, so I need to build it back up. My Dr. just built two clinics and each has a HBOT in them. When we get our finances back up, I'm going to go thru the series and maintenance schedule. It's about 5 minutes from my house.
Do you have a Dr. that you like? This is the best I've had. He is a neurologist, psychiatrist, and pharmacologist. My meds are regulated now and I'm sleeping. I also have fibromyalgia, and Trigeminal Nerve Disorder. Some days a pretty tough.
For me, swimming has kept me mobile. My toes were curling up off the floor, and my Dr. had me dailey exercise them and in about 4 months they touched the floor again. Massage therapy has been really good for me. I'm not saying it wasn't torture to begin with -it was. I went thru desensitization also at the hand therapist and home. I was misdiagnosed before I was correctly diagnosed at the 4 year marker. So I have a partially crippled hand. But I took 5-6 plastic bowls and put cotton balls in one, sand in another, coffee grounds in another, rice in another and so on. just different textures. Very slowly would put my fingers and toes thru the bowl. It's a slow process, but pays off. Swimming, or just moving around in a pool-the water should be 86 degrees. no problems here it was 114 degrees today. Night temp is in the 90's. We need to throw a few ice cube bags in the pool!
You'll find so much love, humor, kindness among our group, please stay with us.we really do care and don't want anyone to feel alone. We all have our sad days so never feel you can't tell us how badly you feel.
I've been seeing this counselor 5 years now and back in the 80's when my parents died, I went into counseling for a couple years that helped me a lot.
He wasn't the first one I found, but he was a wonderful counselor. I learned the value of journaling. It is such a release of emotions while writing, and even discover feelings you weren't even aware you had. One of my girlfriends went to school and became a counselor, she and her hubby come to visit us here in the desert. We live in Arizona now-moved from Oregon about 11-12 years ago. We have other friends that come every year too. Now these are friends that now I'm not up at the crack of dawn, fixing the farmers breakfast- they just want to be by the pool and swim and read and visit. They love to cook FOR US!
Please stay in touch, and let us know how you are doing. It's wonderful you family and boyfriend are supportive. I agree with the person regarding an employer not being able to fire you for shoes due to handicap. Legal Aid should have some information. I don't think it's something I'd put on my resume, but if it comes up, you could have your Dr. write a letter stating the limitations of your feet and footwear. Take care, soft hugs loretta