All the Present I Needed

Behold, The Incredible Hulk Coaster!

My daughter put me up to this post. For some reason she wants the blogosphere to know that she's overcome her fear of roller coasters and has ridden The Incredible Hulk Coaster at Universal Studios' Islands Of Adventure theme park. I have to admit I was a little miffed at first because she did it without me being there, but I got over that and am very proud of her. Congratulations Lili!

Actually, at the age of 14, she's one of the most awesome people I know, her triumph over The Hulk only adding to her awesomeness. She exhibits the kind of character and fortitude most parents dream of in their children. Personally, she's my calm in the storm of life and the one person I know I can go to when I need a bit of sanity. That's a lot to expect from a 14 year old, but she seems to shoulder the responsibility without a complaint. And she could complain, with what she's gone through.

RSD Awareness

Lili (my nickname for her) has a chronic condition called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD), a neurological syndrome in which she experiences continuous pain even though there is no physical trauma. It's like the neurological wiring of the reflex sympathetic nervous system is short circuited. She describes the feeling in her left leg as being on fire. Like it's burning! It took a lot of physical therapy to get her to walk without crutches and then allow anything to touch her leg; pants, sheets, water from a bath, anything.

On top of physical therapy, she's had spinal blocks, which helped her into partial remission, and hyperbolic oxygen therapy, where she was subjected to a pressurized chamber that allowed her blood to be saturated with oxygen, in hopes of curing her. As she lay in that chamber, holding back tears, being strong for her mom and me, we both knew we'd made a mistake. All it accomplished were her tears and the drainage of my wallet.

Oh, and there was the nutritional supplement that supposedly cured everything. Well, it didn't cure anything, and further drained my wallet.

Our biggest fear is an injury to any part of her body, because the RSD could potentially spread to the injured area. Mrs. Muller and I actually fear roller coasters because of the whipping around and banging that goes on, all potential injuries. She recently had to miss her best friend's birthday party because it was a skate party and I couldn't chance an injury. I think she still holds that against me.

But she never complains.

The Muller and Lili

This year, when she was asked what she wanted for Christmas, she said the latest Taylor Swift CD. She knew money was very tight this year and didn't want to burden Mrs. Muller and I with the disappointment of not getting her what she really wanted, which was the the latest generation iPod Touch. Well, we did what many people do these days, we scrimped here and saved there, held that bill over 'til later, and got her the iPod Touch. I have to tell you, the look on her face when she opened it was all the present I needed on Christmas morning.

Hey, she's that awesome. Awesome enough to ride The Hulk, and awesome enough to get what she wanted for Christmas. She's let me play with it a little, too, so maybe she's over that birthday party thing after all.

Yeah, she might have put me up to this post, but I'm glad I did it. And did I mention she's awesome?