Hi, I'm new here.

[Guest guest]

My name is JUDITH. Sorry, I'm not yelling but on my most important

lists, which are Service Dog lists, many of us automatically capitalize

our names and then add our dog's name in lower case letters underneath.

We seem to remember dog's names better than people names LOL... that

sort of let's you all of you know about me, huh? :-)

I developed chronic pain back in '92. It took a while to convince the

doctors that it wasn't in my head (AIMH???). I can't begin to tell

anyone how many times I heard my mental stress was manifesting in

physical pain!

Anyway, I finally got someone to listen to me and it turned out I had

all the symptoms of Fibromyalgia. At least I had some verification that

I wasn't crazy! It was a big relief. I never thought that knowing I

was sick would be a good thing but it was. It took a lot of stress off

me actually.

Well, then the fun continued when the doctors didn't know what to do for

me and wouldn't treat the pain or muscle cramps or spasms. They gave me

meds that were so mild I didn't know I was taking them! Then the drs

flipflopped on me and gave me heavy duty stuff which I reacted badly

to. Of course then they didn't want to deal with me at all because

doctors fix problems and they couldn't seem to fix me!

After a while I found different doctors. They all have their

specialties, you all know (!), and each one will only prescribe certain

meds. So I ended up with a team of doctors! Thankfully after several

years of hard work on my part, I taught them what they needed to know to

help me and also how to work with each other. Yupper, I actually have

doctors who talk to each other on my behalf.

I also have most of the secondary syndromes Fibro can give you. IBS,

migraines (visual ones, really scary!), sleep disorder, chronic pain of

various kinds (muscle, generalized, etc), the list goes on and on.

I have also developed a chronic leukemia with its secondary problems (I

am not expected to die from it!) which took too long to diagnose because

we thought it was just the fibro.

I have horses. Well, 2 horses and a pony. Amy, Stuff 'N, and Belle.

I was a serious competitor in dressage and trained horses and riders for

some 30+ years. I still do when I find a neat person who wants to learn

from me.

I have dogs. Both are Boxers and the female is Dempsey, the male is

RockyToo. Right now my passion is training Service Dogs for the

Disabled. It is amazing what a Service Dog can do for someone who is in

a wheel chair, or walking but can't bend over to pick something up or

open doors, or everyday things like that.

I live on a farmette and do the most I can and the best I can.

I love flowers and gardening, veggies too. I love to mow which is good

because we have 6 acres of pasture that needs mowing even with the 3

horses grazing.

I try almost anything that is creative. I have been doing Bunka which

is a Japanese needlepoint/embroidery that uses a 'needle' that is thick

so my hands can hold it and it is fun and pretty. I am into photography

big time this year and have taken some great shots that have been blown

up into posters.

I guess that's enough about me and what I like.

There is tragedy and problems in my life, but heck, I'm not done living

yet although I can sure hollar and whine a lot! ;-)

Looking forward to being a part of this list,

JUDITH