New Friends

I made a new friend this week.  Her name is Jessica, and she lives just a few houses down from my building.  She's a friend of a friend, and she has offered to stop by if I need stuff.  Last night we went and had dinner down at the wing place in the neighborhood.

Jessica has a medical condition that prevents her from driving a car, so I think she understands better than anyone else I know what it means to depend on your friends.  On that basis alone, I think we can relate.  It doesn't hurt that she also seems like a very nice person.

I wanted to have a picture of her for you, but I forgot to take one last night.  I'll try to get one eventually.

I met somebody else this morning that could turn out to be a friend.  A guy named Tim called me.  I think Tim goes to church with my aunt or something, but he has a spinal injury, and has developed HO to go with it.  His circumstances are a little different in that his injury was higher, and he lost his arms too, but he has since regained the use of some of his limbs.

He just finished several months down at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, and they advised him not to get the HO surgery.  They also advised a different treatment than what my doctors are currently doing for me.  It's scary how little the doctors seem to know about HO.  He did say that radiation therapy seems to have helped him, so I'll be asking my doctor about that at our next meeting.  Overall, the information I got from him on HO was not encouraging.  He repeated the 12 to 18 month time-frame for the surgery.  I really hope I don't have to wait that long.

Tim also said he got a Baclofen pump to help with his spasms and he's very happy with it.  I'm still hoping to avoid it, but I guess if they don't get better, I'll want to get one of those eventually.