Alice - I just wanted you to know that I was thinking about you and I hope you are feeling better.

Linda

Hi Linda, thank you so much for thinking of me. You know, I am feeling better. I read a bunch of the articles in this site's library and for some reason it helped me be more positive. You'd think I should not think of HD as much, but knowing more about it somehow helps me be more active in ways that I can be. I still have the daily tearfulness and down-hearted feelings, but I'm trying to accept that and not let myself go too far.

Thanks again, and I hope you feel well, too.

I think the reason you feel so much more positive is that while there are legitimate concerns with HD, overall in the beginning, people have an ill informed terror of it. As you read about it and how people deal with things you realize all of it is manageable if you are open for it to be treated. And things aren't perfect but not spooky either. A whole lot of HD is just doing some work arounds. Yes, kind of a pain at first. But not scary. I mean you think at first, "I won't be able to walk!" Then you hear about Dusty and her walker. "Well I guess I can walk...whew!" No..a walker isn't perfect but what the heck? Point A to point B is the goal and I still can do that. So your perception of HD changes from this monster that is untouchable to a bunch of smaller manageable problems. And knowing you can manage it feels pretty good compared to fear. I never liked the HD monster or dragon way of thinking. It's great for fund raising...terrible for the individual. When you look at the big picture and all the lives HD touches, that is really bad. But on any given day, HD for the individual is just a problem waiting to be dealt with. And once you deal with that problem things go on like any other day. I think that being aware of problems, and solutions for the problems, takes a whole lot of teeth away from the monster.

I know you are right, Eric. Learning about a thing makes it less scary and dealing with it day to day is easier than worrying about the future. It's just being able to put my mind in the right set that takes some doing.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/27/2007 12:30PM by Alice.