[SandyS]

Hi all, I came across this post from my daughter on one of her Face books, talking with some other kids with RSD...It made me cry to read this, words from my daughter.


I've had RSD since I was 11, but it didn't manifest in the fun RSD-y way that it is currently until I was 15. It was mostly just a crappy immune system and heightened pain.

I'm one of those overly optimistic, peppy people that sees the positive aspects of life, so it really hasn't destroyed my spirit too much. I wish that my friends understood more, but I can't change them and the way they think. A whole "ignorance leads to fear thing," with them I guess. It's rough now, though, because I grew up a long time ago, and they never had to. It's one reason I freak my mom and sister out and talk to people older than me. Haha.

I'm actually kind of glad I fell down that day and ended up with the RSD. No, I'm not happy about the agonizing pain that came with it, but I wouldn't be the person I am now if it hadn't happened. I believe that everybody in this world is connected, all of our strings overlap if you will, and if you change one thing, then all the other strings are affected as well. If I wasn't the person I am now, then the people closest to me would be different as well. I quite like them the way they are. Plus, I wouldn't have met some of the most incredible people I have ever had the pleasure of talking to. Not just the friends I've made from the Cleveland Clinic pain rehab, but the people I've met just because of who I am, and the person that the RSD has forced me to become. The world seems a whole lot more beautiful when you've seen the darkness in it.

I know that spiel was somewhat out of nowhere, but somebody asked me the other day if I could change anything, what would it be? I think you guys know my answer.

Clearly, I am an insomniac and have waaaaay too much time to think of these things...



Also, this quote pretty much gets me through life. It's from the musician Andrew McMahon. Check him out if you've never heard of him. He's the singer/songwriter/pianist of the bands Something Corporate and Jack's Mannequin. He said this after he went into remission from leukemia:


"The sun rose for all of us today but for me it meant more than most sunrises of my near 24 years. It meant that this year had past and a new one had begun. It meant that the wires were undone and the scars were just scars and yes; that it's time to move on. In this year I have seen dark places and I have seen some places flooded with light that I never knew existed. I have walked to the door of death and never felt more alive and I have learned something that is inherent whether we chose to live knowing it or not. That we are just pieces of this crazy universe, floating through space like every other piece of this crazy universe. You don't have to push or pull or fight or win, the struggle is illusory. Sometimes or rather, all times, you just have to be. I am doing my best to be and today it occurs to me that in being I have been very lucky."