Note to all about story template

Donna

My name is Donna and I was diagnosed with Scleroderma 23 years ago at the age of 23. It has been a long struggle, but I have a great doctor. Her name is Doctor Jane and she has also been a good and understanding friend to me. I have been seeing her so long I feel like a part of her family. She has helped me so much and explained things about my illness to my husband and to me so that we can understand from a regular persons eyes and not that of a Doctor.

I think the hardest part of having Scleroderma for me is that no one understands this disease and most people have never even heard the word Scleroderma and it is so hard to explain sometimes. I wish I could tell the world about this disease so they could be educated and understand what people do go through, not for sympathy, but to be able to tell a stranger the name of this illness and have them say "Oh, I have heard of that"!!! I have been really lucky in 23 years and I am grateful to have such a great husband.

I am trying to get Disability benefits, but the people there don't understand this disease either and I have been turned down three times and I have only one more chance. I try not to worry about the future and just think about today and pray that tomorrow will be a good day.

I need to interact with other people who understand what it is physically and mentally like to live with this disease and that is why I am writing about this. I am pretty much homebound and it gets boring. I do enjoy reading and that passes a lot of time. I get tired of going to Doctors and taking pills, but I know it is a necessary evil. I get scared sometimes when I think how long I have had this and I am still alive and have some really good days when I actually don't have pain all the time. There are a lot of things I wish I could do that I can't with Scleroderma, like playing in the snow or anything to do when it is cold outside, but that is not in my best interest I know.

Thank you for reading my story and I will continue my prayers for you all!!!!!!

Donna - chopivy@aol.com