United We Stand

When I was first diagnosed with CRPS things weren't the way they are now. My CRPS started in my left hand at first and at that time I had lots of swelling, discoloration, and of course pain. However at that point I was still able to do things in a limited capacity. Then things took a turn for the worse when I injured my left ankle, terring the tendon. It was at this point that the CRPS developed in my left ankle as well. It was at this point that things became a lot more challenging and most of the work load started to fall on my wife's shoulders.

Nobody is ever prepared for something like this to happen in thier life, and just like that your world is turned upside down. What we found was that because I became very limited in what I could do there was more and more work being placed on my wife. All of a sudden I found myself having to sit on the sidelines not being able to help in so many different ways.

When I look at all the things that my wife has to do on any given day it truly amazes me that she is able to do all that she does. I consider myself the luckiest guy in the world to have someone like her. It's taken a whole lot of figuring out to take on our daily challenges together, and to be able to do it in such a way that we give each other the breaks that we need. There are days where I'm not doing well at all so she will pick up the slack to allow me to rest. On days that I'm up to doing a little more I will give her breaks so that she has the chance to rest and recharge. It just seems like slowly you start to figure out ways in which you can help, and doing a whole bunch of small things start to add up to a lot.

I'm not going to say for a minute that things are easy because we both have our days. Some days my wife finds it really tough and has to really dig down to find that extra strength to keep going. As well I have really tough days where it all seems to be too much, but by the grace of God we help each other get through things. I feel very lucky to have a spouse to go through this with even though it's just as hard on her. I can't imagine how a person can get through this without someone there with them.

Throwing a couple of kids into the mix while trying to deal with my CRPS hasn't made things easy. As a matter of fact there's a whole lot more that gets thrown at Donna. Like I was saying before however, is that you just find a way as a couple to make things work and to get through the tough days together. There's something very rewarding at the end of the day to be able to say "we made it", in spite of all that you have to go through in a day.

Facing your adversity together instead of in your owns ways is only going to bring you closer together as a couple. You need to be able to communicate and figure out what each of you needs to be able to move ahead and fight this condition together.