I’ve been writing on this blog for a few weeks now, maybe I
should tell you a little bit about myself before I get too carried away. Umm, by the way, ignore the dates on some of these photos. Someone didn't see it necessary to change the date on the camera :)
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I was raised on a farm.
I grew up a tractor-driving, calf-throwing, sprinkler-moving,
thistle-spraying farmgirl. I’m the
youngest of five hard-working, athletic kids (1 boy and 4 girls) who were all
extremely active. All of my siblings,
their spouses and kids, my husband and girls are all still extremely
active. Except me…
My brother was the oldest, so obviously he was the first to
leave home. For several years, it was
just us girls helping out on the farm.
My dad was always so proud of his tough, athletic, farm girls. He would tell people, “I would put my girls
up against any one of these in the valley, no problem.” And I understand his confidence. All summer, every summer, we were moving
sprinklers (no pivots, just handlines and wheellines), cutting and baling hay,
herding livestock, walking EVERYWHERE, spraying or digging weeds, and many
other jobs that needed doing. In the
winter, we got bundled up and drove tractors, moved hay bales, fed livestock in
the corrals, mucked out the sheds, and so much more. I guess we were pretty tough. On top of working on the farm, we all loved
sports.
Starting in elementary school and continuing in junior high
and high school, I played a lot of sports.
I was on championship little league softball and basketball teams,
played volleyball as soon as I could, and tried a season of soccer. I seemed to get seriously hurt or sick about
every other year of playing sports and had to sit out part of a season Beginning with 5th grade, I had to
miss part of my little league basketball season because I had Scarlett
Fever. Sixth grade sports were
great. In 7th grade, I (or
rather my sister) broke my arm, again, right in the middle of little league
basketball. After a couple of weeks off,
they just wrapped a bunch of ace bandages around my cast so I didn’t injure
anyone with my injury, and I went on playing.
Eighth grade, fantastic! Well,
not quite. I did break my nose at the
last softball game. At least I didn’t
have to sit out J In ninth grade, I sprained my ankle during a
basketball game and sat on the bench for a couple of weeks. Tenth and eleventh grade were a bit different…
At my high school, volleyball was played in fall, basketball
in winter, and we ended the year with softball in spring, all of which I played. Every year, school athletes were required to
get a sports physical. As I was at one,
my doctor noticed an inflamed gland near my throat that concerned her. She wanted me to get an ultrasound to see if
it looked like something that needed further attention. It must not have been anything too bad
because I don’t remember hearing any more about it. Come to find out, swollen glands or lymph
nodes are common in RA patients. That
was my earliest sign/symptom of RA.
I pretty much forgot about the swollen lymph node for a few
years. But other things started
happening. In 10th grade, I
sat out the last few weeks of softball season due to extreme pain in my side
and shoulder. I was a pitcher, so I
thought I strained something and needed rest.
Well, after a summer of rest I started volleyball again. I really loved playing volleyball. But again, after a couple of months, I was
experiencing a lot of pain in my shoulder and back. I tried to push myself to do the best I could
do in sports, but I don’t feel like I ever pushed so hard as to injure myself.
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| 10th grade after sitting on the bench already for a couple of weeks |
I can remember one day of practice, I had some pretty
intense pain in my shoulder and lower back that was completely exhausting
me. I was trying to be tough and push
through the pain. I hadn’t done anything
more strenuous than normal and I didn’t understand where this pain was coming
from. We just finished one particular
drill that ended with a sprawl on the court, and then the coach dismissed us to
go get a drink. I could hardly move I
was in so much pain. Everyone left the
gym to get a drink and I just laid on the floor for a minute. Finally I rolled over and got up to get some
water. After practice, I look at myself
in the mirror, trying to figure out what I had done that would leave me in such
agony that I couldn’t finish a two-hour volleyball practice. I knew if I went to Coach, she would bench me
for yet, another half of a sports season.
I was so tired of that, but I was in such terrible pain, I didn’t feel I
had a choice. I asked my coach about it
and she suggested I see a sports medicine specialist.
After an appointment and some x-rays, all he could determine
was that I had a curvature in my spine, probably due to carrying a heavy
backpack on one shoulder, but nothing that hinted to the reason I was in such
pain. I sat out the rest of the season
and decided that my sports career was probably over at that point. I was so frustrated about not being able to
play and enjoy the sports I loved so much.
I was baffled at these aches and pains I was experiencing. I was asking, “why me?” a lot. My friends and siblings didn’t have problems
like these. Why me?
My dad gave me a pep talk that ended with the question, “how
about early graduation?” I hadn’t
considered graduating from high school early, but with all of the sports and
other extracurricular activities I did, I almost had enough credits. He told me that he really enjoyed watching me
play sports and if I couldn’t do those, what was the point in sticking
around? He took me to the school
counselor and we determined I needed 3 ¼ credits to graduate by the end of my
junior year. I enrolled in an online
concurrent English class through a local university which gave me 3 credits, and
I joined stage crew for a quarter. Was
it really that easy? I took the ACT, got
accepted to a local university, finished the last few quarters of school and
walked the walk with the senior
class. Again, was it really that easy?
By that time, I wasn’t experiencing any odd pains. That season of volleyball almost seemed like
a fluke accident. But I had already made
my decision.
One of the things I needed
when I was applying to college was a letter of recommendation. I asked my volleyball coach for one. But, I didn’t tell her why. When I went to pick the letter up from her,
she asked me what I was going to use it for.
I told her that I was planning to graduate early and wanted a letter of
recommendation to include in my college application. She got a bit upset about that news. She told me that she thought I was making a
big mistake by missing my senior year and I would regret it. I don’t think she was trying to be mean or
hurtful. I felt a lot of love and
concern from her. I don’t want to tell
her that she was wrong and I don’t regret it, but I feel confident that I made
the right decision. There are so many
things that happened to me and positive choices I was able to make as a direct
result of my decision to graduate early from high school. Including meeting, dating, marrying, and
having kids with this guy right here. I
met him in my very first college class in my very first semester. But that’s a story for another day.
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| Swoon |
Even though I hadn’t been diagnosed yet, there were a few
signs and signals that something wasn’t right with my health. It would still take a few more months to get
it figured out, and a few more YEARS to get it even slightly under control. However, now that I look back, I can notice many small things that hint to a future of chronic illness.
I don’t want to leave this post on a down side, so here’s a
pretty picture from my house growing up. I love that I grew up on a farm!
Riley
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