My daughter Courtney was born 4 weeks premature in the fall on 1995. In addition to being born premature Courtney had a cleft palate, jaundice, sleep apnea and under developed lungs. Early in her life she was faced with numerous ear infections requiring surgery to have tubes put in her ears, a surgery she would have twice; this was in addition to the two cleft palate repairs and a scraping of the scar tissue from the tubes when they were removed.
Courtney also has spent her life with a weakened immune system. Every cold, flu and bug that went around school, Courtney would end up sick. I can’t even remember all of the times she has had strep including since she started college.
The thing about it is though these are the kind of health problems that many people can hear about and say ok I understand that. The part that many people do not understand is that she also has Raynaud’s and Fibromyalgia and has had them her entire life. The Raynaud’s effects her extremities and when it is cold her hands and feet turn colors and hurt; they are also almost always cold to the touch. With the fibromyalgia she experiences daily pain she describes as the joint and muscle aches you feel when you are running a fever from the flu. She also has trigger points that are always painful to the touch, always the over achiever Courtney experiences pain at all eighteen points used as part of the diagnosis of Fibromyalgia. Additionally she suffers from muscle spasms, chronic fatigue, sleep issues, stomach issues as well as other symptoms.
All that being said Courtney has found ways in which she can cope and continue to live her life. In the coming month she will be starting her sophomore year at Agnes Scott College, her first year started off rough but she was able to pull it together and find a way to adjust; just as she always has done. Did she make it to school everyday, no; but she pushes herself through the adversity and keeps going. I am proud of Courtney for many reasons; she has grown up to become a wonderful young lady and is finding her way through life on her terms. There are things she still needs to figure out about life and being an adult but overall I think she is going to be ok.
My daughter’s struggles
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She is and has always been a remarkable person. She faced those surgeries as a little girl like a real trooper, less concerned with the tension than all of the rest of us. I am proud to call her my grand daughter and friend.
She is amazing, funny, and multi-talented. She does not worry about doing what the rest of the world thinks she should do, she spent too much time doing that as a child and learned early that pleasing people was an impossible pursuit that only leads to heartache. Courtney is her own person and as her mother I am not only proud of her, I’m in awe of her.