Our Trials (part 2)

The picture I put on today is of Thomas when we first got the Windstar. I put curtains up.

I feel I got distracted yesterday. When I was talking about things going wrong, I was referring to what happened after we decided to travel. I was still working 2 jobs. Thomas had not worked in several years, because of his physical problems. He broke his hip when he was 38. That caused him problems, but he was mainly dealing with his neuropathy in his arms and legs. The neuropathy is caused by cervical stenosis, which means his neckbones are bent in the middle and pointing into his spinal cord. This is caused from Klippel-Feil Syndrome (a congenital deformity of his neckbones being fused together in 2 places). We did not find out about any of this until the late 90s.

Then within one month of him saying we were traveling, he went paralyzed in one hand and arm. Two days later, it was the other arm. The prognosis: radial nerve palsy. The doctors sent him to physical therapy 3 times a week. I was working 2 jobs, driving him to his appointments, and taking care of him physically, plus everything else at home! I quit American Greetings. Clinton, our oldest, used to roll his cigarettes for him, but after me feeding him oatmeal twice, he learned how to feed himself!