 |
| Houlder clearing security for Richmond Obama Rally. |
“Crack in the crack, back straight, elbows at ninety degrees, feet flat.” This is the first thing the occupational therapist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN said to me and my fellow PRC’ers every day she saw us. Because every teenager wants to learn how to sit properly in a chair approximately 1,134 miles from their house.
In the winter of 2010-2011 I started having symptoms of an unknown illness that included headache, dizziness, nausea, and exhaustion among other things. I started going to doctors all around Virginia but it was to no avail. After over a year with practically no answers, the Mayo Clinic was our last bastion of hope. After many months of waiting, we got the call from Mayo in January of 2012 that we an appointment in March. After so long, it felt as if we had finally found the final destination of our search.
A week of tests, appointments, and consultations resulted in two main diagnoses: Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) where my blood isn’t flowing through my body properly because my Autonomic System is misfiring, and a Chiari Malformation where the lower tonsils of my brain are hanging out of my skull and blocking the flow of spinal fluid into my cranium. Because there is very little that doctors can do for either of these things, they suggested that I attend the Pain Rehabilitation Center (PRC) Program for teens.
At the end of April, I found myself back in Minnesota for over three weeks to go through the PRC program. I learned many things those three weeks, including how to sit correctly, how to breathe correctly, and how to exercise without passing out. But the greatest thing they taught me, was how to be normal again: how to go to the movies with my friends, go to school full time, to do my house chores.
Last summer, after completing the PRC program, I was asked by my parents to mow the lawn. Naturally, my first instinct was to resist this idea, but then I realized that I had not mowed in over a year. I grabbed my iPod and the gasoline and started. As I listened to one of my favorite bands, Mumford and Sons, I was glad for this simple job that gave me purpose, and I felt more alive than I had in a long time. It became one of those moments when I was just plain happy, and amazed at the gift of life that we all have been given. This is a portion of Below My Feet, one of the Mumford and Sons songs that I was listening to:
Keep the earth below my feet
For all my sweat, my blood runs weak
Let me learn from where I have been
Keep my eyes to serve
My hands to learn
As clichéd as this is, take a moment from your day and look around. Be amazed at all of the wonder around you and be grateful for it. Straighten up and rejoice.
Houlder Hudgins for December 17, 2012
