NATIONAL RSD/CRPS MONTH

Some of you have often wondered just what it is that I have. Since this is National RSD Month, I thought I would explain it in full.   Reflex sympathetic dystrophy or CRPS  complex regional pain syndrome is a chronic neurologic condition where your automatic nervous system runs amok for whatever reason.  Nerves misfire and constantly send the wrong messages to your brain.


Scientists/Drs still do not know what actually triggers it and there is no cure.  Up to 6 million people in the US alone suffer from this.

It causes unrelenting severe pain, burning, tissue swelling, joint immobility, muscle spasms, paresthesia (numbness), sleep disorder and depression from the never ending pain,  One can also have bone changes like osteoporisis in the affected area. Many complain of mental changes like memory and difficulty getting a word to the tongue from the brain. This latter one upsets me the most.  I can be talking and a simple word like many or a personal name  is in my brain and i can see it but for some reason it will NOT come to my tongue so I can speak it.

It has been related to traumatic injuries, following surgery, infection and sometimes there is no incident found to have been the cause.

Mine started after a devastating knee injury when I was working in the hospital.  Six long years and 35 physicians later I have RSD/CRPS and am a survivor. Early diagnosis and treatment is the key to a possible remission or prevent of spread.  I was not so lucky as mine wasn't diagnosed for almost a year and a half.

Parts of my life as I once lived it are no longer.  Through the grace of God and a few great drs I am doing okay.
My family is the center of my life and that has not changed.  I thank God for them and a few very special friends for keeping me focused and always watching my back.

Blogging helps me keep focused on the positives and keep moving forward.  The friends I have made from
this blog help me to remember the goodness that comes in small ways every day.

I thank every one of you who are there in my life and who openly share the ups and downs in theirs as well.
We are all here to meet people and socialize in different ways but the underlying theme is about sharing...ideas.....art....family...culture.....faith.....health.....illness......joys....hardships.

Isn't it just amazing and truly wonderful?


this video spot is put out by the austrailian support group for rsd but it explains how our lives are affected every moment of the day.  I wanted to share it with you for a basic explanation of what RSD is.
I also ask that if you know of ANYONE enduring a chronic illness or in chronic pain that you pray for them and their families.  You might even do a small generosity that will reach far beyond its measure.

A Month In Review

This past month of Merry Mondays have been  very 'merry' and fun.  The kids were so in to making  'stuff' for Halloween so we did just that.

Here the kids are making little pumpkin people.  My 'example'

 is lying on the right here.  I show the kids  what we are going

to make then let them have free rein.  I love what comes out of their

imagination and creativity.

I remember taking an art class to make a greeting card. A woman and her mother presented

it together.  I decided to change mine up a little more to my 'own'.

When the mother came around to check on each project she saw mine and said  "Oh No.

You didn't make it right.  That is not what it is supposed to look like.  Mary we have a problem here."

She motioned her daughter over to my table and they both 'tsk tsk'd' and told me how 'wrong' it was.

When I explained to them that I made it on purpose to be different, they could not be more perplexed.

"But it is SUPPOSED to look just like this one."   The daughter held my card up to the class and said

"Please tell me none of you other women did NOT follow directions and did her own thing."

She promptly made another 'card'  the exact image of the original and gave it to me and said

"I won't charge you for extra materials but if you take a future class with us you HAVE to follow directions 'exactly' or you won't be allowed in any other classes.

You know I did NOT ever attend another 'art' class they held.  This was only a few years ago but I learned a valuable lesson.  True Art comes from one's heart or inner vision.  If you HAVE to make something exactly like someone else's then you are not honoring the creativity or vision within.  That 'art' piece instead is a copy of someone else's  inner vision.

I love it when the kids go their own direction and do what their heart tells them.

Here are a few of the girls and their 'pumpkin person'

It isn't fall or holiday season without homemade caramel apples is it?  Here I am helping some of them

dip their apples into the melted caramel.

No matter what we are decorating .... sprinkles of all shapes and colors are always a favorite!

forget the nuts

These were so yummy.  Here they are 'cooling/hardening'  for the trip home.  The rule was ONE lick before dinner!

Today we are making 'ghosts' out of white fabric scraps and polyfil with ribbon embelllishments.

meet  'ninja' ghost

a 'girly girl's' ghost

Here we are decorating their baked cookies---note the 'icky' colors the girls are mixing for their halloween

fare.   And note the bottles of sprinkles!  They love the baking projects most of all.

some of the finished 'art'.  I used a homemade sugar cookie recipe that was my grandmothers.