GBS = Getting Better Slowly

September 25, 2010 at 8:50 am

It took me 50 weeks to leave the rehab facility using a walker. I am 19 months into the illness wearing AFO’s. My Neuro says that a patient sometimes hits a flatline and stays that way for a while before the upward curve begins again. Now it is a fact that some patients (20%) never achieve FULL recovery. There is no way around that fact. Remember this question started by asking about FULL recovery. I have not given up hope and will not; but I am a realist as well. One day I dreamt that I was well and started to get off the bed, but stopped when my feet touched the floor. I wrote about my saga in the December 09 issue of the newletter on page 4. Each day I wonder if I will achieve full recovery or fall into that statistical group of those with deficits of one kind or another. As I wrote in this post before, I met two fully recovered people personally: one with an 8 month episode, and the other with a 2.9 year episode. They walked unassisted. I got this illness at 67 years old, healthy and playing ternnis weekly. Go figure. Until someone tells me “this is the best you’ll ever be” I will continue the good fight. I came back from full quad paralyzed within seven days to using a walker. When I get down, I look over my shoulder and see how far I have come. And that gives me strength to keep going. I had a one foot tall sign in my rehab room on the wall. It had only one word: PATIENCE. I thank you all for your input.