PAIN.....The
first real episode was after lifting far too much weight during a
squatting session when I was 15... the second major one, years later, lifting a
patient who decided they didn't want to stand anymore. After numerous sports injuries, four
babies and 21 years of lifting my disabled daughter (HENI) my back was
pretty much shot to pieces. I, like many of you have suffered chronic
pain for years. Even though looking in from the outside I can still run and exercise
etc, there hasn't been a day in a very long time without feeling Pain. I
understand pain intimately, (experientially as well as academically) and
I've worked hard (since Heni passed away) to reduce it, and hopefully eliminate it from my life once and for all.
It's been a while since I had the desire to write on here..... but
something just keeps pulling me back. Maybe my reluctance thus far stems
from the fact that Heni (who my blog centered around) is no longer
here. It's a year and 9 months since she passed away... and
yesterday, the (19th of July) we celebrated what would have been her 23rd
birthday at the beach.
Henibean was originally written around my
life with Heni ...a Trisomy 18 warrior... the whole blog was pretty much a record of how I tried
to keep some semblance of health, sanity, creativity and balance in my
life and family throughout her last few years of life.
It's Sunday the 18th of March 2018....World Trisomy 18 awareness day (and month)!
It seems like forever since I last wrote anything here on the blog and I've missed it... but It's been a journey of many ups and downs and even now over one year on from losing Heni, our Trisomy 18 warrior, it's still really hard and a constant daily battle. A journey of adjustment to life without her.
However, despite the lack of motivation that I often have (to put words about how I feel down here on these pages) I didn't want today to slip by and NOT remind myself (and you) of the enormous blessing that my daughter was and that all of these precious little souls with T18 are.
