tlcandmore

Hi everyone! My name is Terri and I am a 50 year old female suffering from chronic pain. More later... Okay I guess it's later. Where to start? I... read more

Hi everyone! My name is Terri and I am a 50 year old female suffering from chronic pain. More later... Okay I guess it's later. Where to start? I had a bad car wreck when I was 22. Hit head on by an 18 wheeler. Was care flighted to the hospital and given a less than 10% chance to live for the first 3 weeks. I had massive internal and orthopedic injuries and went through 7 surgeries. I spent the next 3 1/2 months fighting for my life and eventually learning how to walk again. I came through this by the grace of God and was able to go back to work, have a family and live a fairly normal life for a good number of years. Everything started going down hill once I turned 40. I first began having many problems because of the adhesions (scar tissue) left from all the abdominal surgery. I have had to have 5 more abdominal surgeries including a colectomy. They have removed all of my large intestine and a big portion of my small intestine. I now suffer from among other things short bowel syndrome. I have learned to live with this. In the mean time I started to also have problems with my spine. Degenerative disk disease, facet disease and too many other things to go into. I have had 2 cervical anterior fusions which did give me the use of my arms and hands back but now suffer from chronic pain. Other disks are starting to go in my neck and I'm beginning to have severe lower back pain too. This is something I will have to deal with very soon. I came to this site looking for answers and have not only found those but also to my genuine surprise have found a group of loving and caring people to share with. I hope that I will be able to give back the same kind of loving support that I have found here. Thanks for reading. Best wishes, Terri