anyone been here?

Dear Dave: I'm older than you (52) but have been through a lot in the past 1 1/2 yrs. Katrina hit us and my house was really tore up; started having severe problems w/balance, cognitive thinking, etc and had to stop work on May 30, 2006; granddaughter diagnosed w/leukemia on May 30, 2006 (doing very well now); neuro problems kept increasing & now have diagnosis of periventricular leukomalacia (death of areas of gray matter in brain); spinal surgery on 8/28/06; heart cath on 11/16/06 & again on 12/13/06 w/angio & stent w/diagnosis of CAD, Cardiac Syndrome X, PVCs, PSVTs, & Intermittent A-Fib; week after stent suffered 2 TIAs. It felt that everytime I got knocked down, I would get up & was knocked down again.

For the past 5 yrs, I worked on the Oncology wing of a hospital & was taught a lot about life from the pts. It's things like our family & friends, the smile of a child, the affection of your pet unconditionally, the beautiful colors of a sunrise & sunset, the sound of birds, etc that are most important. They taught me that material things aren't what's important. I know God always has his hand out for me anytime I need it ... he probably has caluses as many times I've reached out for him (a little humor there).

A few hours ago, I had a "disagreement" w/painter who did an unsatisfactory job on our interior. This stress caused my BP to rise which resulted in neuro problems becoming exacerbated. I'm better now, but do not like the fact that I let him cause an exacerbation. I figure each day is a new start & the beautiful colors of the sunrise is just a little sample of life's artwork.

Laughter is a great medicine. Find something totally stupid that will make you laugh & keep it close at hand.

Hope things look brighter for you!

wvjeeper said...

 hi all, only been here a short while. I am looking for hope. I am 39 year old who has had a heart attack, a rotor rooter, stent, triple bypass, stent, stent in a stent. I guess I am looking for someone in my age group that has a great outlook on life. Seems like something has always been wrong with me. At the age of 19 I began to have panic attacks which lead to a panic disorder. Then depression and some bi polar disorder and you have my life. I still have chest pain mostly before and after my imdur wears off. I kind of at wits ends right now. Feel like there is no where else to turn. Thanks for taking the time to read.

Dave

Hi Dave, We are most happy to have you here and I hope you do find this site supportive for you.  I will tell you a little about myself here, I am 33 yrs old and have had depression, panic/anxiety and PTSD since my early teens.  This is due to childhood abuse which I wont go into here as I don’t feel it is appropriate.  I got married at 26 to a guy whom I had been with since I was 19.  I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2001, 2 yrs after we were married and everything feel apart for me and basically for us.  My husband was not supportive of my illness and the change it caused in our marriage so I moved out and back home with my mom which resulted in my divorce.  In September of 05 I became sick again with bradycardia (low heart rate) and received a pacemaker, and also orthostatic hypotension.  Since then, I have been diagnosed with an autonomic disorder called Multiple System Atrophy or MSA for short. 

I have had a really difficult time for a lot of months after this.  There were terrible thoughts running through my mind and all I could concentrate on was what did I do so wrong to deserve this to happen to me.  I don’t know what the turning point was for me but I worked through it with counseling and taking my medication everyday.  I do take an antidepressant and an antianxiety medication when I need it.  I can say that I had to stop looking at what tomorrow was going to bring and worrying about that...wondering if I was going to wake up if I went to sleep at night.  All you can do is concentrate on today and make it the best day you can.

 that is the truth, when yu see others making it who have it more difficult, it helps us all to know we will survive.  please, i hope to see yopu at the chat where we can all get a little more info,  i have to warn you, it gets crazy  but it is fun.

Good for you, pegleg.   Have all my ducks in a row, but still have to remind myself that anxiety for me is a normal.   It's only if the defib is doing something diff that I get freaky :)   Isn't anxiety a pain in tush. Sorry, feeling silly.  Your posts always make me giggle a bit.   You must be very good with patients.