BPMomBPSons's Journal

My mother has spina biffeda, a birth defect that damages the spinal cord, happening in the first few weeks after conception.

She has always done more than the doctors expected. They told my grandmother that my mom would not live past six, then would not live past twenty-one, would certainly never have children. She has four healthy children, eight grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Be that as it may, she has suffered many health issues. While she is highly intelligent, her legs do not straighten, her bowels are not always something she could control, the scar over her spinal cord has ached for years, she has had gall bladder surgery, a hysterectomy, two knee replacements and two spinal surgeries The last fifteen years she has been confined to a wheelchair.

She is a wonderful cook. Her apple pie and irish stew are just the best food on earth.

This July, she had surgery to corect the bowel situation, a colostomy and and illiostomy. Her bodily functions are now outside her body in containable plastic bags. Something much, much better for her and my stepfather.

Her recovery from such an intensive surgery has been diffcult at best. I have been afraid of losing her.