My introduction

[Guest guest]

I just joined and I've enjoyed reading past posts from the group. My

body has fibromyalgia, osteo-arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and

Crohn's disease. I'm not going to mention the rest because they are

just too boring and mostly gut problems anyway.

The husband person and I have four sons, no daughters except for my

perfect daughters in love whom I adore, ten grandsons, two

granddaughters and one great grandson. This Halloween will mark our

forty fifth wedding anniversary.

I'm also visually impaired and my cats knocked the monitor off the

desk last month and about a sixth of the screen has nothing but

intersecting lines on it so often can't see everything I type. So

apologies in advance for typos and other errors; I will try to

remember to write my e-mails to the group in Word then copy and paste

to the group so there aren't as many errors. Unfortunately I will

probably forget to do this every time since I am old and have had a

bunch of strokes so my brain is a bit fuzzy at times.

Currently I'm in a flare-up of the Crohn's and my doctors don't feel

that treating pain is their problem, so I've been waiting several

weeks to get in to see the pain doctor. Because of this, I do a lot of

sitting in my computer chair, hugging my heating pad while hunched

over and praying " Oh God, Oh God, Oh God please " because that is

pretty much all I can think of when the pain is like this.

I probably rattle when I walk because of all the pills they have me on

for heart problems and gut problems and the fibro, arthritis, chronic

fatigue and things. I've been told they cannot repair my heart so

they have thrown more pills into the mix.

My warranty expired a semester before I would have started teaching

algebra at a local college. I was already doing my teaching internship

and loved what I was doing but I guess all that math fried my brain so

strokes managed to wipe out about six years of higher maths. I loved

teaching developmental classes but it wasn't to be.

Since I never managed to get in enough quarters to qualify for Social

Insecurity I am unable to get any benefits. This is what the Social

Security people have told me so possibly they are not telling the

exact truth.

When allowed outside I am a rabid gardener. My specialty is heirloom

vegetable gardening. I usually plant an acre of vegetables every year,

three crops a year, and this will feed my husband and me for the year.

Unfortunately this year my heart decided enough was enough and the

flare-up of Crohn's hit me, so my beautiful garden is out there

neglected.

I also run a no-kill animal sanctuary out of our tiny home so

apologies in advance if one of the cats decides to send an e-mail out

early. It has happened before, I am sorry to say. I suspect they get

online at night to contact the mother ship.

Thank you for letting me join the group. I will promise to try very

hard to not break the rules and use Internet speak and do the know

what I mean and ellipses which I adore.

Jeanne B in GA