Entry 1

Well I thought that I would try and create a blog and see how much I could record of what is going on in my life. I have been really healthy for most of my life and have never really had to go through any type of physical illness to the last two and half years. In grade 12, in 2007, I was admitted into the childrens hospital when I started having really bad back spasms that caused my body to become very weak. I would have little strength and was having a very difficult time regaining my strength as the spasms were quite frequent. I spent about 3 weeks in the hospital with multiple doctors thinking that I had different conditions. It turned out that they actually had no idea at all what was going on in my body and why a 17 year old guy would be crippled like I was. I wass able to recover for a short period of time when I had a relapse about a week later and was admitted right back into the hospital again. I basically sat around and waited to be told what was wrong and nothing at all was all we heard. I was again sent home because the medical staff did not know what to tell me and so eventually I began to regain strength and get back into my normal lifestyle as it was before this all happened. In Feb 2008, I had yet another relapse and this time visited the Foothills. Again with no luck and mulitple trips in and out of the emergency room, I ended up spending my grade 12 year at home and doing my work from the textbooks. I was fortunatley able to graduate and found myself taking a year off and moving out. I lived with a friend of mine for about 8 months and really enjoyed it, and finally moved home after stretching my finances to the max. In Aug of 2008, a neurologist at the Peter Lougheed was able to diagnose me finally with a condition called Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS) and I was told that I would basically have to deal with whatever would happen in association with that disorder. With few spasms for the rest of the year I was confident that I had conquered this and then I started to relapse again. With visits to the doctor and neurologist and being told there was really nothing we could do, I continued to try and move on after each time I would have some health trouble. In Sept if 2009, I decided to go to the University of Lethbridge, where I enrolled in Kinesiology/education, and I was so excited to be in school and back to my life as usual. October hit me relatively hard when one night, while just laying on the couch, I lost complete feeling and function of my legs. With help from my friends and brother, I was able to go to school and I just assumed that this was part of the Stiff Person Syndrome. I went to the hospital two days later with the worry that this was something different because I did not regain my feeling or function, and the doctors basically looked at me and said, "there is nothing we can do." While trying to tell my story to which ever doctor I needed to in the hospital, I was faced with constantly trying to explain myself and validate the claims I was making about the last year two years that I had been through. Nobody seemed to believe that I was telling the truth and I was dismissed and sent home to just get better. Try telling someone who cant move there legs one day and can the next, just to deal with it. You can imagine that it didnt go over so well. I was fortunate to get better two days later thanks to my friends and brother who prayed over me for probably about twenty minutes and not even a joke, I was able to walk about 5 minutes after we said "amen." I was so thankful and had new found trust and faith that I could possibly be better now. I was for the rest of the semester and then I decided to move back home to Calgary. On April 12 2010, I woke up for my typical work day and I was at work when I had a spasm in my lower back. I immediatley felt as though I needed to get home and so I left work with little explanation given as I could tell that my back was going to become my worst enemy in a very short time. Monday and Tuesday I spent walking around the house very weak and tired and not being able to sleep well at all...On Wednesday, April 14, 2010, I woke up with no mobility in my legs at all. I could not believe that it could happen again...I decided to wait it out and hope like last time that it would resolve but after a week of waiting, I was not convinced. I went to the hospital and was determined to find someone who would just pay me some attention, and finally I was able to sit with some doctors and neurologists and explain what was going on. After they deliberated, The doctor pulled me into one of the other areas and told me that they were not convinced that this event or seemingly the last one, has anything to do with my previously diagnosed condition...I was so frustrated. How could this be something new? Why am I having such bad luck when it comes to my health. Well its now April 28th and no change since the 14th. Tell me that your not supposed to worry about that and would probably freak out. How and why, so many questions unanswered and it seems that with no plan of attack and no sign of recovery, that I may not recover at all. I want to hope for the best and I really do want to do everything I can to get better, but what does a person do between now and then? How do you explain to your employer that you can't work anymore because you can't perform your duties? So here I am now, going to try and see what good I can do by sharing my story for others to keep up with and maybe take some interest in. I do not wish to compare myself with anyone who has a terminal illness or one more severe than what I seem to have but without my legs working, I can't seem to but wonder, how is this any better? As I try to stay encouraged,

I just wish my legs would work.

Tyler