The Crip's Crib {;c)->-<

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Favorite? Hmmm...
That's easy! Snuggled up on sofa with a sweet, intelligent guy with a sense of humor!hehehe I was a Jockette in High School and the first 3 years of College. I played Basketball on a Women's team, for the San Francisco Warriors in 1969 and 1970. Even tho I am in a wheelchair now, I am still as active as possible. I enjoy handicapped skiing, fishing, camping, games <pc + board> and just about anything else that can be adapted, or done from a wheelchair.PLEASE NOTE: Since this was written, we have been given a public hearing with the Oakland City Council on August 1, 2002, at 1-3pm, at #1 Frank Agawa Plaza, in Hearing Room 2. You are invited to attend.

URGENT! PLEASE HELP!

I don't know if you have heard, but the Alta Bates-Summit Hospital intends to close their Pain Clinic on Monday, July 15, 2002. There are over 1000, that is One Thousand, patients who will be affected by this closure. Many have implanted Dilaudid or Morphine Intrathecal Pumps. Many have implanted Stimulators. ALL of us NEED this Pain Clinic to remain open and will do almost anything we must, to see that it does.

I had a back injury, at work, on July 11, 1972. I then had 4 surgeries in the next 5 years. I had a total of 3 discs removed and 3 triple fusions. The pain was awful. Back then, the only thing the doctors did for Chronic and/or intractable pain patients, was to send us to a Psychiatrist. However, as the pain was in my back and legs, not in my head, this did little for my pain. I tried Biofeedback, when it first came out. I have had Lydocaine run thru my veins and even tried Hypnotism. One time, while I was waiting in the Operating Room to have a Caudal Block, another "idea," was proffered when my Doctor was talking to another physician. The other doctor had been to a weekend Acupuncture Seminar. Well, they thought it was a good idea to get some injector needles and have both physicians try this out on me! Well, I had just had a shot of Intravenous Morphine, so I was feeling fine. This guy starts sticking the injector needles into me and asking "How's that?" from time to time. I let them do this for a few minutes, feeling nothing, but getting bored and tired of this. I finally said "That's better." I said it just to get them to stop. I, of course, felt nothing different! I just wanted them to stop experimenting on me! There are many other horror stories, but for the sake of brevity, I won't recount them all.

During two of my triple spinal fusions, I spent a total of 7 months in 2 Spica Body casts. A Spica is a body cast that goes from the chest to the knee of one leg. I had to spend these two occasions in a Convalescent Hospital, because of the Spica Body cast. My family had already had enough and wouldn't care for me. The Doctors put me in a private room because I was only 24 and 25 years old at the time. I spent most of this time alone! I was very frightened at times. I had no life, to speak of, during all of these operations. I felt as if I must be losing my mind if all of these Doctors could not find a way to stop my pain. I even attempted suicide a few times.

After all of this, I was prescribed a power wheelchair. The Doctor said I was falling too much when I went outside. Then, while exiting a downtown Oakland hotel, the elevator dropped 6 inches, pinning me to the steel wall with my wheelchair. The backwards fall broke the headrest off of my chair and pinned me by the head and neck to the steel wall. Due to our 'life situation,' my Husband and I were unable to see the "right" Doctor for about a year. When we did, we were told that if I did not have surgery immediatley, or, I would die. It seems I had exploded the C-5 disc. Anyway, I ended up having 2 operations on my neck, one each year. The only thing that changed was that instead of having pain confined to my lower body, it had now spread to my upper body, a

The Crip's Crib {;c)->-<

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