It's Thanksgiving! What Are You Thankful For?

Well Thanksgiving is only a few days away and I don't know about you but I'm getting ready to eat my body weight in turkey!! Oh ya did I forget to mention that I'm also going to do the same with the stuffing, mashed potatoes, and of course my favorite pumpkin pie!! I haven't really thought about how I'll work it off, but I'll worry about all that later. Worrying only makes our pain worse doesn't it, so I guess I won't worry about it then. My pain has been all over the map lately so it's really hard to predict one day from the next. I can only hope that things settle a bit over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Over the holiday we'll go out to our cottage and visit family, clear up all the fall leaves that are dropping, and finally close down the cottage until spring. It's always fun when all the family is together and I'm very thankful that I have all the extended family that I do. As I was thinking about being surrounded by the great family that I have, I started to think about all the great people that surround me as I go through this season in my life. As suffers of CRPS know, it can be easy to forget about all the things that surround us that we truly need to be thankful for. In my case I have really good people in the health care system that surround me who are trying to make a difference and truly want to see me get healthy again.

When I look back at all the help I've been given so far, I need to be really thankful for the level of care that I'm getting and everything they do for me. There are so many things that they do that make the difference in my treatment. It's also all the small things that they do like changing schedules to accommodate, or even opening their door when we need someone to talk to. They really do understand what I go through on a daily basis and if I wasn't surrounded by such amazing people it would be a much harder fight. They have a vested interest in this fight, and that's to see me get better. They also keep me focused and motivated to keep fighting.

What they are doing is more than just their job. They are always looking for that one thing that will help you. If you think about it they don't have an easy job dealing with us. Each case of CRPS is a little bit different, and you need to treat each person a little different. I'm just thankful that there are people that are trying to help me, and to those people I just want to say thanks for all that you do. If it wasn't for everything that you do for me on a daily basis, my symptoms would probably be worse than they are. People need to understand that those professionals are learning along with us, so it's important to work together so that we learn from each other.

The level of support that I get would be really hard to find anywhere else. That in itself is worth its weight in gold. As many of you know just getting somebody to care can be hard. I can't begin to say enough about the people that provide for my health care right from Dr.'s to the therapists. It's Thanksgiving! Take some time to reflect on what you are thankful for!!