Adversity…

I don’t believe my marriage has suffered due to my CIDP, & I had a very severe case & continued to be that way for a very long time. I came down with CIDP that was originally dx as GBS due to the sudden onset, as well as the severity. I was a 48 year old teacher at the time & my husband was 5 years from retirement, as his company has a pretty good pension after 30 years of service. We had saved well for retirement, as we both like to travel. We were both extremely athletic (downhill skiiers, cross-country skiiers, heavy duty snowmobilers, walkers, tennis, etc.) A lot of those activities have been lost due to my partial recovery, but we still manage to find lots to do together, like cooking, lighter snowmobiling, crusing in our boat, fishing, & traveling.

I believe we weathered what so many said would have done in their marriages, because we had weathered adversity early in our marriage. After our daughter & son were born, I had a sterilization procedure done, but got pregnant anyways. Our third child was born with spina bifida, a pretty severe case. So at ages 27 & 29 we faced a liftetime of caring for a disabled child we had not even planned on having. But we stepped up to the plate & lovingly took on this challenge. We couldn’t be prouder of our son; he has always been an exemplary role model for the disabled & very independent.

I believe a strong marriage can survive almost anything. Even at my worst, we cuddled a lot & told each other how much we loved one another. I am going to bed now, as we have been “out” the past two nights, but will try to add more to this thread later on.
Pam