Hi I'm Chris

chrisvanf

Hi to everyone 
I'm Chris 52 years young from West Yorks
I have far too much time on my hands to get bored and honestly don't know how I manage to fit it all into a 25 hour day.
The reason;
I had a 7 ton machine roll over my right foot and ankle in Oct 2016 and while everything was fixed up nice and ship shape (foot and ankle wise) It damaged lots of nerves and other stuff and now I have CRPS Type 2.  

Ami2301

Hi @chrisvanf
Welcome to the community! I am terribly sorry for what happened to you! Please forgive me as I'm not familiar with CRPS, would you mind explaining what this is?

chrisvanf

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, CRPS, is a progressive disease of the Autonomic Nervous System, and more specifically, the Sympathetic Nervous System. The pain is characterized as constant, extremely intense, and out of proportion to the original injury. The pain is typically accompanied by swelling, skin changes, extreme sensitivity, and can often be debilitating. It usually affects one or more of the four limbs but can occur in any part of the body and in over 70% of the victims it spreads to additional areas. 

CRPS is ranked as the most painful form of chronic pain that exists today by medical science see Mc Gill's pain scale.

I copied and pasted this from one of the sites I am a member of.
 

Ami2301

Thank you for sharing this, I can't even begin to imagine how horrifying this is for you! How do you cope with this?

chrisvanf

@Ami2301
Accept it for what it is and that there is no cure.
Mindfulness helps, medication sometimes take the edge off.
Take every day as it comes, pace yourself and hope for a low pain day.
Have a positive attitude,
imo, too many people with chronic pain are in the dumps, YES it's horrible to be in pain 24/7, but telling everyone about it all the time only alienates you and drives everyone away that could help you      

Ami2301

Hi @chrisvanf
You'd make a brilliant motivational speaker! I completely understand your point, I think with any disability there are stages to get towards acceptance, like emotional, anger and denial. I have a few disabilities and went through all these stages before realising I can't do anything about it, it can't be cured so I will make the best of what I can do

chrisvanf

Hi @Ami2301.
This sentence you wrote. 
"I think with any disability there are stages to get towards acceptance, like emotional, anger and denial", is one of the best ways to describe what people go through before finally accepting what has happened or what limits them.

"I will make the best of what I can do" is surely better than saying I can't do.

I have just started with my journey, but speaking with people like you gives me hope that there are possibilities among the impossibles. (found the emoji bit lol)  

Ami2301

Thank you  
Pessimists are right in the end, but optimists have the better journey!
If you ever want to chat, you're more than welcome to send me a message
Once you've found the emojis...you won't stop using them ?

Sam_Alumni

Hi @chrisvanf Welcome to the community