Marrying De on October 12th, 2002.

 

Currently taking

 

 

  I  was diagnosed in 1995. Current treatment includes Methotrexate 25mg per wk, Remicade 5mg infusion every 6 wks, and Gengraf alternating dose 50/100 mg every other day.

Would welcome connecting with fellow AS "survivors." 

 

when i was young i was told i had growing pains as i aged i was told i have strained my back just rest.  put all these aches and pains on aback burner cause i was raising 4 kids. i can wait.  well i waited and waited and finally the kids grew up. finally a dr said i think you should see an neurologist. He did a bunch of test and sent me to a orthopedic surgeon..he did more test and said i have a foward slippage of my lower disk and surgery was indicated.  that was in 1996.  not being in a hurry i waited.  In 1997 i had surgery and the dr put nuts and bolts and screws and rods in my spine.  i thought i could put the pain behind me.  not so.  at the end of the year after much pain and more tests dr. told me i have a loose screw.  (imagine that)  so back to surgery i went. said i have a solid fusion so he took out all the hardware and recommended low impact arobics.  in the pool , figuring nothing wrong with my arms, i swung my arms around and guess what? tore my rotator cuff.  and back to surgery  i went.  well with all this behind me and a positive attitude i went to work.   things went fairly well with the help of a couple of pills till june of 2001 when i tripped on a mat at work and went down on my knees with full force and broke my solid fusion.  so here come WC ,disibility and lawyers.. on looking over all my med records i found words like spondylolisthesis, anklysing spondylosis   and stenosis.  anyway to make a long story short i read all i could about as (not to say i understood everything) and found this site on the computer.  so folks didnt meant to be so longwinded but thats just one chapter of my soap opera.

Married to a wonderful guy (Eric) and proud mother of two grown children (Joanna, 22 & Brian, 19) and Grandmother of one (Alexander, 2 ).Daughter is married, hasa son and going to college to be a Vet. Son is in The US Air Force (security forces). Please Support our troops!!!

I was diagnosed with AS in 97 and am now in a wheelchair. Currently on disablity, but finishing my education in psychology and only 19 credits short of my degree YAAAAA!

I love animals and have 2 Black labs (Bogart and Flyer) I trained Bogart from a small pup to be a therapy dog and he now helps me with a lot of my daily activities...even answers the phone for me. I also have  2 cats, and a bird.

I am in the process of writing a book about the Facts and myths of AS. The book also consists of personal stories from people with AS... thier physical and emotional struggles, effect on family and friendships, doctors and issues regarding their diagnosis and treatment, and basically how they live with and deal with the many issues which AS brings about.

I love meeting new people and look forward to getting to know everyone here.

 

Lisa

 

Stop looking at what you don't have and start looking at what you do. Otherwise known as...Counting your blessings.