Right on, sister! Well said!
Blane
:-)
P.S Whereabouts in CA? Berkeley here!
On Sat, 18 Oct 1997 00:13:29 -0400 (EDT) BonzyJonzy(AT)aol.com writes:
>I have been receiving mail from the vent-users mailing list for a
>couple of
>months now and so far have mainly just read what interested me,
>deleted what
>didn't, kept quiet.
>
>After reading Andrea Skinners post and the ones to follow, I just had
>to get
>a few things out. First of all, I'm a 35-yr old female w/Muscular
>Dystrophy.
> I went into respiratory failure on October 1, 1994. I was a
>full-time
>employee for a govt. agency at the time. Three years later find me
>feeling
>better than I have in a very, very long time. I am still working for
>that
>same govt. agency and attending college in the evening. The vent is
>just
>another piece of hardware to me. My nurses even forget to put attach
>the
>vent back on me after transferring me to the commode because they
>don't see
>me as "a machine."
>
>So, to Andrea I say the following:
>
>1. As far as your daughter's life being ruined now, I say IT BEATS
>THE
>ALTERNATIVE ! Or do you not agree with that? If not, why didn't you
>pull
>the plug?
>
>2. You say you will never ACCEPT it, but that you've LEARNED TO LIVE
>WITH
>IT. I ask you, what's the difference ????? We have all learned to
>live with
>our various problems of life--that's what ACCEPTANCE is.
>
>3. What is NORMAL, anyway. As far as I'm concerned, it's a setting
>on a
>hair dryer!
>
>4. It's NEVER easy to deal with a child's disability, regardless if
>your
>child is 4 or 40. I still see the pain in my parent's eyes and I
>worry about
>them. Would I like to be cured, HELL YES. Do I have "pity parties,"?
> YOU
>BET I DO. Do they RUIN my life? NO WAY. I figure I can deal with it
>or
>PULL THE PLUG FOR MYSELF.
>
>5. Regardless of the cause of why we're vent-dependent, power
>chair-dependent, the pain is the same. What I mean by that is your
>daughter
>is not entitled to any more sympathy, empathy, or pity than any of the
>other
>people who have survived an accident and are living on life support.
>
>6. This bulletin board is for help and support and if you feel better
>now
>because you have had the chance to (pardon the pun) VENT your
>bitterness,
>then it will have been all worth it in the end. If not, I hope and
>pray you
>can find the help and support you need.
>
>Karen in California
>
>