When my daughter was seven days old, the doctors discovered that she had survived a perinatal stroke. This was the beginning of decades of physical and occupational therapy – much of it aimed at helping her gain use of her right hand – the hand that was pretty much paralyzed by the stroke.
Therapy is time consuming – making appointments, driving to appointments, constant calls to insurance companies to beg for coverage or tell them that the amount they paid was wrong (always underpaid – not a single case of overpayment), and the actual therapy in the office and exercises at home.
My daughter is 19 years old now. She still doesn’t use her right hand very much, despite the decades of occupational and physical therapy. I woke up this morning and wondered – what if she’d been born without a hand? How would life have been different? I know that we would definitely have had a lot more time for the fun stuff.
I briefly searched the internet for “amputee” and went to the first site that looked like a legitimate nonprofit organization serving people with limb loss. I found an amazing story about Susan Fleming, a woman who has one hand. Susan is a very successful nurse and shares her journey. Her life sounds very full and I plan to share this with my daughter who has told me since she could speak, “My hand works just fine. Stop worrying about it.” I don’t think my daughter will be surprised by Susan’s story.
