lessons learned- literacy narrative

Lessons learned

 

The big white gloves, the rides, the parades, and most of all the characters are the first things that come to mind when thinking about Disney world.  No matter how old you get the excitement of going to Florida and getting the chance to visit the parks never subsides. I have been going to Disney world every year since I was six. In my mind this year would be like any other, a jam packed, forced family fun vacation. Little did I know along with all the excitement that would soon be here a big change would come shortly after. Nothing could go wrong its Disney world right? Wrong. Even though Disney is the happiest place on earth that is the place I was forced to first learn about RSD.

            Going to chef mickeys in Disney is one of my family’s traditions. Four years ago in 2008 we were out to dinner together enjoying our time. Goofy the character was visiting our table and taking pictures with everyone. As my mom got up it almost looked like she was, or attempting to, dance with goofy as he was talking to my brother. When we all stopped laughing we realized my mom was no longer moving but just looking down at the floor. Minutes later we found out she had actually hurt herself. The carpet by our table was pulled up and my mom’s foot got caught underneath it. What looked like dancing turned out to be a disaster. My mom had tripped over the piece of rug and a mass had formed on the top of her left foot. My mom is a stubborn person and refused to go to the hospital that night. A few days later she was in so much pain she was convinced into visiting the hospital. The doctors then decided it would be a good idea to perform surgery to try and get the mass out. Once the surgery was over she felt better for a few days and then was in pain again. This kind of pain was different she couldn’t even put her shoes on because the material sent shock waves through her foot. This time she waited until we got home to go see the doctor. It seemed like every doctor we went to had something different to say. As the time went on the pain got worse and worse. My mom being the woman she is held strong and believed the doctors were missing something and it was just a broken bone or a ligament so she would soon be fine. Finally after going to several doctors we found one who would know exactly what he was talking about. Going through doctors for a week straight was exhausting and we were all ready to hear exactly what we wanted. We awaited the doctor to tell us she would have to stay off of it for a few weeks and wear a little brace and then she would be up and moving within a month or two. We were wrong. The doctor said technical terms that we did not understand then finally said she was diagnosed with the disease called RSD.

            As my hands started uncontrollably shaking the thought of losing my mom was inevitable. I listened closely seeing if I could decipher the doctor’s words to find out more. I could feel my stomach slowly turning as my heart swelled up and my eyes got glassy while tears quickly filled them. Nothing, I couldn’t understand a thing. How could he not explain to us if it was fatal or not! As soon as we stepped outside I burst into tears as my siblings and I ran to my dad and quietly asked if we were going to lose our mom. I could hear my heart pounding out of my chest while my brother, my sister, and I waited dreadfully for my dad’s answer. Finally he said no the disease wasn’t fatal. I can’t even begin to explain the relief and the smile that hit my face. I thought to myself RSD couldn’t be so bad especially if it wasn’t going to take my mom away from our family. That moment right there is what changed my life forever. It wasn’t just okay for me to think RSD wasn’t such a bad thing just because it wasn’t fatal. Come to think about it I didn’t know anything about my mom’s new found disease. This made me crazy I wanted to know what I could do and how I could help right away.

            RSD stands for reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome. RSD is a chronic condition characterized by burning pain and abnormalities in the sensory, motor and autonomic nervous systems. The syndrome usually develops in an injured part like a broken leg or following surgery, which in this case it was caused from my mom’s surgery. So basically RSD affects your nerves in all different locations of your body. I also learned there is no cure but there are a few treatment methods. One among the few was ketamine treatment. This is where they transfer the drug through IV into the patients system. This isn’t a permanent treatment and it doesn’t last very long. Along with this I also discovered RSD can easily spread to all other parts of the body. Learning this made me nervous; my mom was in enough pain just because of it being in her left leg. I quickly researched what I could do to help.  All I can really do for her is to help her with normal tasks that have now become difficult, such as lifting things, getting out of bed in the morning, driving, and on bad days walking may even be an exasperating thing to try an accomplish. Knowing this made me strive to make my mom feel comfortable and keep current with any new updates on her disease and ways to help.

            Even though this wasn’t a positive event in my life I did get something good out of it. Learning about my mom’s disease helped me to better understand what she’s going through and what I can do for her. This experience taught me that having a better understanding of things makes it easier to handle and to figure out where to go from there. To this day my mom is of course still dealing with reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome and it has spread to all of her left side and to her chest. My mom is the strongest woman I know and is dealing with it better than I could ever imagine but it is helpful having people around her educated on the disease and doing everything we can to help. Four years ago, today, and four years from now my mom will still be struggling with RSD and going through treatment. It doesn’t matter if it’s past, present, or future I will keep researching and helping my mom in any way I can. Not only did RSD change my mom’s life but mine also. This just goes to show there’s something you can learn from everything that happens in life, good or bad.