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From: Ruthie.Hoffman@f223.n260.z1.fidonet.org (Ruthie Hoffman)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Am I handicapped?
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Date: 26 Oct 90 03:23:54 GMT
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 > In a message to All <10 Oct 90 18:04:00> M'Linda Taylor wrote:

 >  MT> I have been having chronic back pain for the last 6 years and it
 > MT> keeps getting worse with time (suprise, suprise!).  My current
 > MT> employer has me listed as handicapped due to consistantly poor
 > MT> attendence.  I'm having problems with that term because while I am
 > MT> in varied degrees of pain 80% of the time, I still regain full
 > MT> mobility.  I.E.  I can walk even when I'm at my worst, it just
 > MT> causes extreme pain.  In short, I don't feel that I "deserve" being
 > MT> included in the handicapped "box".  The reason that I say "deserve"
 > MT> is due to the fact that for most of my life, people have kept
 > MT> telling me that I'm just trying to get attention by being ill or in
 > MT> pain.  After 29 years one starts believing it.

Hi...
  I won't quote all of M'Linda's message, but I have to tell you 
...and her...that her note really hit home.  I have been an observer 
to this echo for a little while, and the SPINAL_INJURY echo for a few 
months.  I had a lower lumbar laminectomy almost a year ago 
now.(Actually, I am a bit confused about that term..I ws told that was 
what it was, but they did NOT remove all the disc or do a spinal 
fusion) 

Unless I do absolutely nothing for a week or so, I am in continual 
pain of some degree or another.  I too feel that I am losing 
perspective on all this.  I sometimes think it must all be in my head. 
My in-laws, for example (ok...they are really the MAIN ones) keep 
telling me how all their retired friends who have had this type of 
surgery were playing tennis and golf and jogging only a few months 
after their surgery.  I have been swimming 3x a week since about a 
month and a half after the surgery, and I am damn proud of that! 
But...sigh..I too am very good at beating myself up about this. 
Well...enough of me...what I really wanted to say was that M'Linda's 
message, generally, could have been from me, and that YOUR response 
helped me ALOT.  Thanks!!!

Ruthie

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