Skip to main content

Back when I was 12

Hi again! I'm going to tell you a little bit about how this all started.
I have always loved cheerleading. When I was younger I used to go to my sister's cheerleading competitions and wish I was out on the floor with her. I would throw my hands in the air and pretend I knew what I was doing, just imitating her. When I was old enough to learn, she taught me all the cheers she knew. I would practice all the time and when I was eight I got to actually be on my own team. It was the greatest feeling in the world! My sister also taught me how to tumble, stunt and dance! It was so much fun! That year I got to cheer at my first football game with my own uniform on. I got to go to my first cheerleading competition and actually compete. I made a lot of new friends and couldn't have been happier if I tried!
I continued to cheer each year after that. In 1998, I was 12 years old, my shoulder started to ache. Practices got harder for me since there was so much repetition. I didn't want to give up so I continued to tumble, stunt, dance and cheer. After a couple weeks, I told my parents and they brought me to the doctor right away. They did x-rays and all kinds of tests to see what was going on and told me I broke my left shoulder. Who knows how I did that because I never fell on it or anything! So I left there with a sling on, an ice pack and instructions to NOT CHEER!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dystonia awareness

Some days its hard to find the words to explain what dystonia feels like. It's invisible to most people, yet it shapes every hour of my day quietly, persistently and often painfully. I don't share this because I want sympathy, I share it because awareness matters and too many people still don't know what dystonia is, let alone how much it can affect someones life. Dystonia affects my hands, feet, back and neck. My hands ache as though they've been gripping something for hours, even when they're resting. My neck strains as if theres a weight hanging from it and no amount of stretching helps. My feet cramp and curl making sonething as simple as standing still feel like a test of endurance. I've grown stronger in ways I never expected. Ive learned patience, determination and resilience. Ive learned to celebrate small victories, like waking up with a little less stiffness or being abke to open a jar of spaghetti sauce. Im sharing this because I want people to under...
Post a Comment
Read more

update on Dystonia and Family

I have been doing as well as could be expected.  I am back in Florida so it's nice to be with Ryan.  Although I am still upset about the whole thing, I am trying hard to smile and not let it show.  The spasms have returned and have gotten worse since the DBS was removed.  When I suck on a piece of candy or ice, my throat tightens up.  It's very scary but Im hoping it won't get any worse.  My neck also twitches sometimes and my foot spasms have come back.  My hand is curled in but if I think about it, I can straighten my wrist (not my fingers).  The most upsetting part is that I was just looking at pictures of myself the day after DBS and I had a huge smile on my face because I had made it through and then a couple weeks later there was a picture of my hand open.  I had never been so excited as I was that day.  I had so much in my head that I wanted to do now that I could use my hand and most of it involved Hailey.  Hailey helped me ...
13 comments
Read more

Why be normal?

For the last 17 years my hand has slowly been getting destroyed. Its been closed, open, dislocated fingers, and eventually everything about it was deformed. My first hand treatment was casting my fingers open but with dystonia this usually doesnt work. It was one of the worst pains I ever experienced and I had to go back and have the cast cut off that night. I had my first hand surgery in 2019 to "fix" some of the damage that was done from my dystonia. Little did I know that would turn into many more surgeries trying to relieve my discomfort and my anxiety of having a deformed hand. I wanted it to look normal so bad. I was so embarrased by how my fingers looked that I always had my hand in a sweatshirt pocket so I could hide it from the world. I never mind sharing my story to spread awareness but how embarrasing is it to drop groceries everytime you try to shop, or struggle to pick your toddler up. Over the last couple years I started seeing a new hand doctor that my mother...
Post a Comment
Read more