How I Found Recovery! Part 15

I HAVE BEEN CLEAN FOR 14 YEARS, 11 MONTHS, and 28 DAYS!
A TOTAL OF 5477 DAYS!

Tom was still working down in New Hope, Pa and traveling back and forth now for years. It was starting to take a toll on all of us. So we decided that we would start looking to move to Bucks County. Although it was hard to leave my family and friends I knew that it was time to become the whole family, not just a part-time family. Life was too short not to be able to spend time together. I needed a full-time husband and Kyra needed a full-time dad. It was one of the best moves we ever decided to make.

Shortly after moving to Bucks County, Kyra was complaining about her legs always being sore. I really thought it was just growing pains, until one day she was sitting on the floor and she couldn't cross her legs to sit Indian style, I also noticed that when she sat for a long period of time when she got up to walk she would hobble and her knees were all swollen. It reminded me so much of my mother when her arthritis was really bad. I took her to the doctors and they first diagnosed her with Chrondomalacia which is a condition in which the cartilage beneath the kneecap becomes softened. The doctor told me it was common in girls her age who were active especially if they were dancers. I wasn't really happy with that because like I said it reminded me so much of my mother and I asked him to run blood work for arthritis. When the test came back it didn't support any signs of arthritis I asked him if he would get us into Children's Hospital in Philadelphia to see an Orthopedic doctor. He made us an appointment and the doctor confirmed that it was indeed Chrondomalacia, however he only went by the ex-rays that our family doctor had sent to him. The doctor in Philly wanted her to go for physical therapy. After several appointments with the physical therapist, he said to me, I don't believe this is helping, he said I think I'm hurting her more than I'm helping her. He said I think she has a form of arthritis. So I call my family doctor back and he was somewhat taken back about me asking if he could get us an appointment again at Children's Hospital but with a Rheumatologist. He told me if I wanted one I needed to do it myself. I waited 3 weeks for an appointment. Finally when we get to her appointment and the doctor sees her for the first time, he looks at her ankles, knees, fingers, arms, and her jaw. He turns to both Tom and I and said this kid is loaded with arthritis. She was diagnosed with Juvenile Psoriatic Arthritis. I asked him if this is something that she may out grow, he looked me straight in the eyes and said she would never outgrow it, however it can go into a remission. I asked him what are the chances that would happen, his response was either she will be in remission by the time she is 16 years old or that she will be in a wheelchair. He immediately started her on a steroid, followed by Embrel and Methotrexate which is used for the primary treatment of psoriasis and certain cancers. We would give her the shots of both medications. However the embrel burned as it was injected into her little body. After discussing this with her doctor at Children's Hospital, he told us that there was another medicine that was very good called Remicade, but that we would have to take her to Children's Hospital to get it because it was given to children intravenously. He also discussed with us the fact that because of these medications that her resistance would be very low. She needed to have blood work taken every month to make sure her counts would be okay. Kyra is still continuing to get the medicine once a month and I'm happy to report that it has been working good and she is living the life that an 11 year old should live except for the fact that she catches every flu that has been out this year.

I can't believe how the years have passed, we have been living in New Hope for 5 years and I'm getting ready to celebrate 15 years clean, and Kyra is getting ready to finish 6th grade.

As you can see I have come along way from where I was at 15 years ago, I've worked really hard in my recovery to be where I'm at today. Although we all still have to live life on life's terms I have learned not to take the easier and softer way to deal with situations at hand, and I know that "Just For Today" I can get through life without the use of drugs.

It took several years, but I learned to be grateful for my addiction and the program of recovery it forced me into, for all the things that had happened to me and for me, for a life today that transcends and far exceeds anything I had previously known. I could not have that today if I had not experienced the yesterdays.... Adversity truly introduces us to ourselves, but we need never deal with our adversities alone as long as we have friends. Through adversity I found strength. Life didn't end when I got clean........IT STARTED

Oh and one last thing!

" My name is Lori and I'm a grateful recovering addict and thank you all for letting me share my story". Your support has been so overwhelming and I love each and every one of you........

The End!