David

I am 27 year old husband of 5 1/2 years with one little boy and another boy due in February. I grew up in the shadow of the Teton Mountains near Jackson Hole Wyoming. I love the outdoors, and am an avid skier, camper, snowmachiner, and dirt bike rider. Needless to say, the fall of 1997 is not one of my best memories, because that is when I first noticed what seemed to be "bruises" on my left bicep. I paid very little heed to them at first, figuring they were probably the result of an aggressive pick-up game at the basketball court, or some other similiar event. Soon thereafter, I began to notice that my left thumb looked and felt like it had been jammed. It was swollen and stiff. Again, I paid very little attention to what my body was trying to tell me. At the time, we were but a few weeks away from our wedding, so I definitely had other things on my mind. After we returned from our honeymoon, I stopped by the student health clinic at the university I was attending, and was sent home with a small brace, a bottle of ibuprofen, and a diagnosis of tendonitis. One month later I was back in, this time with a swollen, red, and very sensitive left thumb and forefinger. Having dealt with tendonitis in the past, I was quite sure that what I was experiencing was altogether quite different from any tendonitis that I had seen. Did I mention that I was a Microbiology major (read pre-med) at the time? Anyway, for the next four months, I endured doctors who had no clue as to what was going on, and who had no problem with telling me so. Finally, I was referred to a Rheumatologist named Dr. Richard Hearn. What an incredible man. Talk about your overachievers! Not only is he a Rheumatologist, he is a Hematologist, has a PhD in Biochemistry, as well as his J.D.(he's an attorney). By the time I met him, the discoloration, swelling, and redness had carved a path from my left thumb and forefinger, up the front of my arm all the way to my shoulder. It goes without saying that I was qrowing quite concerned.

This disease has changed my life in many ways. I feel that I am a much stronger person than I was before I contracted it. I look at life's challenges now, and they don't look quite so daunting as they used to (although my two-year-old little boy still has be pretty intimidated!). Are there still effects of my Linear Morphea? Of course there are. My thumb has no fatty tissue on it, in fact, it has a smaller diameter than my ring finger does. The muscle tissue in my forearm is still atrophied somewhat, although that is what I'm currently working on building up. I deal what an incredible amount of cramping and twitching from nerves damaged by the disease, and my left arm is still generally weaker than it used to be. I am going to need at least one more surgery to release the flexor tendon in my left thumb. I have come to terms with the fact that my road to full recovery is one that will be measured in years, possibly decades, and not weeks and months. Do I let that stop me? Absolutely not. I don't have time to. I've got a wife and an airplane to love (although my wife would say "Not necessarily in that order"), and a little boy named Zach to chase after, wrestle, and otherwise spoil absolutely rotten.

David - davidboyd@hotmail.com
 

copyright 2002 Amie Yaussy          Return to home page