memoirs #1

Hello Everyone.

The reason I started this blog was to write my memoirs. My husband always says to me I should write a book but seriously with a 3 year old, when does he expect me to write this book??. So I was thinking from now on I will finally start "blogging" my memoirs. {I will still have other posts but they will mainly consist of my life's adventures}.
Well I guess I should start...


MY FIRST YEARS (0-12)
*all names here have been changed to protect privacy*

I was born on the 25th Feb 1987,in Tasmania. I was the first born to Phillip and Emily. My mother had no idea how much her and my WHOLE families life was about to change come Feb... she was in labor for aprox 20 something hours but because I can not use my legs, it meant I wasn't able to be born without help.

They rushed "us" to the Operating Room, did an emergency c-Section. After a few minutes I entered the world, this is when the nurses and Doc got the first indication that something was wrong. When Spina Bifida kids are born apparently they have this high pitch cry. The nurse who was holding me turned me over onto my belly and noticed the lesion on my back.

I was then sent to another hospital via an ambulance so I could be placed in to NICU. Spina Bifida kids where not expected to live past 5 days. The Doc told my parents and family to brace for the worst outcome. IF I lived, I would have been a vegetable and not be able to do anything for myself. Not be able to eat, sleep, walk, talk, learn, anything!!... and thats on the off chance I survived. Because of the survival rate with kids with SB they nursing staff would only feed me (I think?) every 12hrs. My dad was quite upset that's this was going on and that they were just going to let his baby girl die :(.

He used to come in and sit with me, while there he would give me a bottle (hehe very sneeky). A few days after my birth they Doc's and hospital stuff asked my parents permition to do a few operations on me to "help" me live more comfortibly. They wanted to remove the lesion on my spine AND they wanted to insert a shunt...

SHUNT: a one-way valve is used to drain excess cerebrospinal fluid from the brain and carry it to other parts of the body. This valve usually sits outside the skull, but beneath the skin, somewhere behind the ear) to drain the fluid which surrounds the brain. In SB children we have more of this fluid. My parents decided they wanted to wait and not use me as a guinea pig so early on in my life. The operations were done when I was approximately 6 months old.

My next operation was to correct my "clubfoot" [http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_foot].

Every year (almost) I went to Melbourne to the childrens hospital to have operations and to see specialist. I will spare you those details as I'm unsure myself of what when on hehe. I was aprox 2 years old when I got to take my first steps using a special brace that was fitted. I had to use crutches to get around... this got incredibly hard. I couldn't catch up to all my friends who were running around.

I was about 4 when I was fitted with my first chair. At age 4 and a half I attended a catholic school down in southern Tasmania (they believed I needed to attend early to "catch" up with other kids). I really enjoyed school and making friends.

Then I attends High School (with a whole bunch of new kids). High School's hard for most teenages but for me it was a little worse. I had to miss alot of school because I had to have operations. Like in Yr 7 (1999) I went to Melbourne to have a rod and screw placed in my back. I was so badly bent over from the scolyosis that I was crushing my heart and lungs. That op saved my life, but I also almost lost my life. The Doc actually cut the main artery to my heart, I was dead on the table for a few mins.

(for my reference when stating what Yr in school I was in)
Yr 12 - 2004
Yr 11 - 2003
Yr 10 - 2002
Yr 9 - 2001
Yr 8 - 2000
Yr 7 - 1999
Yr 6 - 1998
Yr 5 - 1997
Yr 4 - 1996
Yr 3 - 1995
Yr 2 - 1994
Yr 1 - 1993
Yr Prep 2 - 1992
Yr Prep 1 - 1991