Dear Linda and Kathy,

First let me thank you Linda for being forthright.  Some fifteen years
ago, at about 46 years, I started on a path of chronic pain.  In the
first several years I was going through the traditional range of motion
exercises and pain management techniques with limited and spotty
results.

I had attempted to counsel with a psychologist who told me that I had to
face Cerebral Palsy as if it were a disease and not a stable condition.
Like you, Linda, I was uncomfortable with the idea and the reality
implied that CP might diminish my ability to function.  I was quite
shocked, hurt, and angered by the therapist's jolt to my preferred way
of perception and self definition.  To this I dance around the
distinctions of "condition" and "disease," though I am, finally, willing
to acknowledge that practicality of the latter term.

This year I finally think I have the first glimmer of return to more
robust, less isolated living.  Of course, I'm nearly sixty and a quarter
of my life was severed from the career and life style I was building and
cherished.  Fifteen years in the wilderness is a long time; especially,
when older age is at the end of the wandering.

I think we folks with CP need to wake up.  And we need to properly
demand the best that medicine offers.  We also need to know that at
times the best isn't enough and we have to utilize the best of our
abilities, alternatives, and resources.

Kathy Jo I agree with your agreement with Linda.

Linda, may I commend your fine intellect and precise dialectic?  You
brought me
out of Lurk.  I appreciate your realism.  And I thank you for the
opportunity to vent.

Thanks,

Steve


----- Original Message -----
From: "Kathy Jo Pink" <[log in to unmask]>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.c-palsy
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2001 1:58 PM
Subject: Re: A Question


> I'm with you , Linda, on this.  Kathy
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:   Linda Wagner [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent:   Wednesday, April 18, 2001 8:48 PM
> To:     [log in to unmask]
> Subject:        Re: A Question
>
> You are so right Kathy S...
>
> But then again, I am not so sure I believe the "non-progressive"
> part...Heck, the brain damage that causes CP may not get worse, but we
do
> feel the affects of aging...so in a sense the CP does get worse.  Is
it an
> illness...I don't think so.  Is it a disease...I hate that description
too,
> but use it sometimes to explain CP.  Is it more of a "condition"?
That fits
> better in my mind...
>
> Linda