The Saints Of Mibba
Defying the Odds.
Imagine that you're sitting in a wheelchair. Now imagine what you think it would be like to be stuck in that wheelchair forever. That is what doctors thought would happen to me.
But I proved them wrong.
It was 1991, I was your average three year old. I watched the kids shows on TV every morning. I wasn't in preschool yet, but I had an interest in learning. I was also fast on my feet. I loved to walk around, run around, jump in puddles after it had rained. I also loved to talk. In fact, there was rarely a time when I would shut up. All of that changed when I fell off a table and landed on my knees.
The doctors verdict: "Your daughter has Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis"
Would I be in pain? Yes.
Would I need to get it operated on? Yes.
Would I ever recover from it? Probably Not.
Would I end up in a wheelchair? Most likely.
I went through a good year and a half of pain. I had 2 operations, though all I remember from those was receiving a large needle in my behind. I do however, have a much clearer memory of the hydrotherapy I had to attend, where the physiotherapist would painfully stretch out my legs. I also remember having to wear splints to bed, waking up and not being able to walk, crying out in pain.
But 3 years later, after my 6th birthday, after many appointments with rheumatologists, physiotherapists and even sight doctors (you see, apparently arthritis can also affect your sight if you get it at a young age), after re-learning to walk, I defied the odds. I was officially in remission.
"She'll be in remission until after she has developed. She is not allowed to play contact sports"
That was good. I should've been happy, but I still couldn't live like a normal child. Most children went out and played team sports. I could not. Netball was out of the question. Soccer was equally out of the question.
So I did dancing. But as a lot of people who have done dancing will know, it can get very competitive. Parents of other children say negative things to other children, and for me, those sorts of things stayed with me. I felt like I wasn't good enough for team sports, because my knees let me down. I felt like I wasn't good enough to do dancing, because of the mean things the other parents and children would say. So I gave up dancing and took up guitar.
Dancing took away my confidence. I'm still not confident in anything I do. Even in playing guitar, I am still not confident, and I don't like to play in front of others. Writing under the alias of "Lightning Zap" is the way I choose to escape from my confidence issues. No one (except for 2 people on this website) knows who I am in real life, and it gives me the confidence to write, because no one knows who I am, so they can't judge me.
It all started from arthritis. A disease which a lot of people only think happens in old people. That is wrong. It can happen in any one at any age. I was lucky that mine was found early on. Otherwise, I could be in a wheelchair right now. But I am now completely cured. I am out of remission. The only things left as a reminder are my slightly odd angling of my knees and my emotional scars. Mibba is helping me to open up. Something I've never really been good at doing. It's helped me on my way to ridding me of my emotional scars left from the arthritis.
But I proved them wrong.
It was 1991, I was your average three year old. I watched the kids shows on TV every morning. I wasn't in preschool yet, but I had an interest in learning. I was also fast on my feet. I loved to walk around, run around, jump in puddles after it had rained. I also loved to talk. In fact, there was rarely a time when I would shut up. All of that changed when I fell off a table and landed on my knees.
The doctors verdict: "Your daughter has Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis"
Would I be in pain? Yes.
Would I need to get it operated on? Yes.
Would I ever recover from it? Probably Not.
Would I end up in a wheelchair? Most likely.
I went through a good year and a half of pain. I had 2 operations, though all I remember from those was receiving a large needle in my behind. I do however, have a much clearer memory of the hydrotherapy I had to attend, where the physiotherapist would painfully stretch out my legs. I also remember having to wear splints to bed, waking up and not being able to walk, crying out in pain.
But 3 years later, after my 6th birthday, after many appointments with rheumatologists, physiotherapists and even sight doctors (you see, apparently arthritis can also affect your sight if you get it at a young age), after re-learning to walk, I defied the odds. I was officially in remission.
"She'll be in remission until after she has developed. She is not allowed to play contact sports"
That was good. I should've been happy, but I still couldn't live like a normal child. Most children went out and played team sports. I could not. Netball was out of the question. Soccer was equally out of the question.
So I did dancing. But as a lot of people who have done dancing will know, it can get very competitive. Parents of other children say negative things to other children, and for me, those sorts of things stayed with me. I felt like I wasn't good enough for team sports, because my knees let me down. I felt like I wasn't good enough to do dancing, because of the mean things the other parents and children would say. So I gave up dancing and took up guitar.
Dancing took away my confidence. I'm still not confident in anything I do. Even in playing guitar, I am still not confident, and I don't like to play in front of others. Writing under the alias of "Lightning Zap" is the way I choose to escape from my confidence issues. No one (except for 2 people on this website) knows who I am in real life, and it gives me the confidence to write, because no one knows who I am, so they can't judge me.
It all started from arthritis. A disease which a lot of people only think happens in old people. That is wrong. It can happen in any one at any age. I was lucky that mine was found early on. Otherwise, I could be in a wheelchair right now. But I am now completely cured. I am out of remission. The only things left as a reminder are my slightly odd angling of my knees and my emotional scars. Mibba is helping me to open up. Something I've never really been good at doing. It's helped me on my way to ridding me of my emotional scars left from the arthritis.
♠ ♠ ♠
by Lightning Zap.