Skeye:
I have only read the first part of this thread, and then skimmed the rest, so forgive me for not yet knowing the whole story... I do have plans to come back later and carefully read the rest in detail because I am keenly interested in what everyone has to say on this topic, but I am just not feeling great right now and decided I wanted to stop reading and use what was left of my energy to post something.
I am guessing you (and everyone else here) will understand.
I just want to tell you that I am so PROUD of you. That might sound a little silly, since I'm not your mother
, but in some ways I feel like you just hit a home run for the whole HW CP community. We so often feel deeply buried within our pain and suffering, struggling mightily just to pull our way to the surface so we can breathe a bit, and in those moments it seems as those being a CP sufferer means the mandatory loss of all the things that make us individuals... as if achievement and accomplishment is a thing for "normal" people, just one more thing we have to let go of.
But look at what you have accomplished! And we know that you have been suffering lately, perhaps even more than usual. We have been cheering on the sidelines as you have struggled to hang on to your dreams despite the intense pain and even despite the fact that your studies often cause your eye to hurt even worse. And even in the face of those trials, you have managed to be published! As an undergrad! Phenomenal!
Even now as I write this I am fighting back tears of utter joy and pride for you. (Yeah, you didn't know I was mushy, did ya?
LOL) And hope for the rest of us, too. It's a reminder that even though we have all lost so much there are pieces of us that still make us individuals, pieces that still make us count. I think we forget that sometimes.
Great work, Skeye. And thanks, PAlady, for making sure we took the time to acknowledge it.
Ry