My Journey with GBS

There is a quote: “ We have 3 types of friends in life. Friends for a reason; Friends for a season and Friends for a lifetime. ”  That saying is quite true for. I have had to live through a few traumatic family tragedies since I was 16 years old to 23 years old. Within 12 months both my mom and my sister Kathryn were diagnosed with cancer. My mom with stage 3 breast cancer and my sister with osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer) and then my sister had a recurrence and then her sudden death when I was 23 years old. I wouldn’t have been able to get through those times without the friendships I made through my times spent at Dorian Bible Camp as a child. Kathryn was 5 and I was 7; and Kathryn’s friend Kimberley Pidgeon told us she was going to Dorian Bible Camp (less than an hour east of Thunder Bay, Ontario) for a week. It sounded like fun so we asked if we could go and thus started a summer tradition of going to DBC every summer first as a camper than as a staff member. It were ma...

Throughout this journey, the one thing that has constant - a reminder of how blessed I am. That is evident in those in my cheering squad. During my stay at Foothills unit 58, acute rehabilitation unit - the recreational therapists helped me reconnecting to the outside world on my own by telling my mom I would need an iPad. Mom was awesome and bought the latest on the market - 12.9” iPad. One of my occupational therapists made me a mouthpiece stick that could use on my touchscreen iPad. It was an amazing feeling to text one of my friends. Beginning stages of feeling normal, getting a sliver of independence as I didn’t have to rely on my mom to text someone for me.  Knowing my mom had to head back to her home in Thunder Bay, my friend Bev came with us in August to get myself an iPhone. It was like another world opened up again for me. At my 6 week admission meeting with the Skypointe staff, my GP Dr. Bhatia, Jenny, and a few of friends - we had talked about gaining more independen...

It’s been 6 months since moving into my new home - Skypointe. When I arrived August 5, yes the movement was starting with my legs but quite small. I started with Nina, my occupational therapist, for first month for range of motion exercises twice a week and then I hired a massage therapist Jenny my second month at Skypointe, originally for twice a week too. Jenny did the massaging but also did range of motion exercises too. So I went from doing the exercises twice a week, to doing them 4 times a month! Jenny and I agreed, a better treatment plan was three times a week. For the last 5 months, I have been doing our range of motion exercises 5 days a week plus getting a massage 3 times a week. One of the most notable improvements has been my legs. First is how my left knee is able to bend more when I am in the wheelchair. Now my foot doesn’t stick out as much. Makes getting into the Access Calgary bus easier as well as getting around the facility. Second is to be able to re-teach my bra...

Now that my healing is coming along; I have noticed that my right side of the body is healing or showing more strength than the left side. I am figuring as I am right-handed that is why I am noticing more recovery on the right. During the Christmas season I did some retail therapy. Bought a couple of heating pads; a pair of 5lbs ankle/wrist weights and for fun I bought the Ancestry DNA kit as my ancestry has always been an interested in. I am definitely Scottish as I have “Rutherford” on both sides of my family tree. My last purchase was a hospital table that goes over the bed. I love it!! (and so do the staff). When my friend Karen was visiting yesterday (January 18, 2019), I decided to try when I was in the bed to try lifting my hand/arm onto the table. I was successful!! Below is a video of me lifting my right hand onto the table as well as showing how I am moving my fingers on the right hand. Motivation - gaining dexterity in my right hand leads me closer in upgrading to a powe...

One of the things that frustrates me about the English language is multiple words sound the same (there, their, and they’re; or to, too and two). Then there are 2 words that have opposite meaning of one another. For me, those two words are Empathy and Sympathy; as I seem to get mixed up remembering their meanings. So went on Google to find the definitions: Empathy - the ability to understand and share the feeling of others Sympathy  - feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else’s misfortunes ‘ Now you are probably wondering where I am going with this. Everybody knows that saying, “ Walk in another person’s shoes to understand their feelings”. I am now in a position to say that I am walking in their shoes. I am speaking about being considered “disabled”. Thinking of growing up, I do not remember too many people I encountered went at school or in my circle of friends that had obvious physical disability. Probably my main encounter came when my sister Kathryn became a full arm...

My previous experience with severe pain were my gallbladder stone attacks. The come out of the blue and literally take my breath away. Definitely not fun. The pain with GBS is on a whole different level. The slightest touch and it’s agony. Getting a sponge bed bath - it felt electrifying! When they cleaned my fingers and toes especially - the pins and needles were so painful. And you get bathed twice a day so wasn’t a day I wasn’t feeling pain. They use a scale of 1 to 10, and 10 was most painful - I was ranging between 7 to 10 during my days in ICU. Then came the dreaded Tilt Table. You lie flat strapped to a table and then your physiotherapist begins to tilt you upwards to having you stand. I was one big cry baby when it came to do this exercise. The pain that would make me stop was not my lower back or hips - it was my feet. That pain was definitely a 10. My physiotherapist Maureen was a wonderful Scottish lady and to make me smile she would sing a line or two of a Christmas car...

On Friday night (January 4), I downloaded an iBook, “ Happily Ever After ” by Holly Gerlach. She is a GBS survivor from Edmonton who contracted this disease 3 weeks after delivering her beautiful baby girl as well as getting the flu a week before her symptoms surfaced. I had the privilege of meeting Holly when she drove down to Calgary to participate in the Walk & Roll fundraiser which my coworkers organized in my honour. Meeting Holly and another GBS survivor Dean at the fundraiser and seeing them both walking gave me new hope I will be like them one day too - walking. Reading Holly’s book provides an insight of what life with GBS looks like. What you learn when meeting other GBS survivors, all our stories are different - how we were diagnosed and even how we are treated or how long it took to recover. The obvious similarities between the three of us were: we had to be intubated and with a tracheotomy, stayed in ICU for more than three months, had post-admission and/or postopera...

Happy New Year 🥳! A new year upon us - new chapter, fresh outlook to the future. A new year traditionally allows us to set new resolutions we hope to achieve. In January 2014, I changed my perspective - instead of resolutions, I would make goals to achieving looking at my physical, mental and financial healths. Definitely my goals for 2019 would involve all 3 healths. My financial health this year is to remain debt-free and have enough financial security to face any of the unknown decisions that lie ahead this year. The goals for my mental health is primarily to continue with a positive frame of mind. Yes, I will have my bad or rough or frustrating days on my road to recovery; I need to acknowledge those feelings as they are real and would be worst if ignored. What my goal is to learn not to stay too long in that “sad or negative space”. Having a positive outlook as well as surrounding myself with family and friends providing me with positive encouragement has gotten me this far i...