Hard Time For My Family

Hello All,

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying these gorgeous warm days. Today is the first full day of fall, and it was 95 degrees here in Ohio. I wore a cute mini skirt with a tank top. I never believed that I would be wearing this in fall, and in Ohio of all places! I am enjoying the weather even though its playing havoc on my RSD. The constant change in the weather from hot to cold and back is extremly hard on my body. Add on the stress of school and no accomidations (long story and not too happy) it makes it hard but Im making it.




Earlier in the school year, the first week to be exact my Cousin who had Colon Cancer lost his battle. It has been a hard month for all of us but for his immediate family especially. The good thing is we are a close family and we are able to support each other while we are going through this. I will be going to West Virginia tomorrow to join the rest of my family to Celebrate my cousin's life. We are having a get together where he loved to go 4-Wheeling. I am happy that I get to join my family as I didnt believe I was going to be able to. J was able to get the day off tomorrow so we are driving down there tomorrow. Im thankful that I get to spend the day with my family as I miss them and believe it will help being with them.


Ill let you know how things go. Its been hard to post as classes have me busy. I hope to post about Wv soon and about how my classes are going. Also about why I dont have any accomidations right now even though I sent in the proper paper work ahead of time.

Living on Campus With a Chronic Pain Condition

Happy Friday!!

I hope you are all doing well. The best thing about today is that it is Friday! I had two classes this morning and didn't have to work which means I started my weekend early (yay!!). Before I go take a little nap, I wanted to write about the benefits of living on campus and how to do that with a chronic pain condition.

For many the prospective of leaving the comfort of home terrifies them. Throw in a chronic pain condition and that anxiety can go through the roof. Most people who have chronic pain also believe that they simply cant go to college. They tend to get this idea from the people around them. Keeping our minds busy actually helps distract us from the pain and keeps the areas of the brain active that can become permanently damaged from the pain if they aren't used.

Tips to Succeeding with Chronic Pain Conditions:

1) When you are on the tour of the college ask many questions. This may be about how big the campus is, about their Disability Services, how accessible things are, ect.
2) Talk to the Dean of the Field you are going into. This is important to do on the tour portion. You don't want to go to a college and then find out that the Dean isn't going to help you if you required accommodations. As a Nursing Student and someone who has RSD with a SCS implanted I know I will need accommodations when I do clinicals. Talking to the Dean, let her know this in advance. that I will not be able to lift patients due to my SCS but will be able to trade off and do something else in place of it.
3) Choose a major that YOU want to do. Many people may believe that physically or mentally you may not be able to handle a certain major. The best major to pick is what you love and what you are interested in.
4) Become familiar with the Disabilities Office Early. Having accommodations is leveling the "playing field" for us who need it. They are there to help you, so take advantage of it. The earlier you set your accommodations up (usually a couple weeks before school starts, you usually only have to do it once) the better. The school is able to get the paper work out to your Professors and set up the accommodations you need. I have accommodations and take full advantage of them, especially since my pain gets worse in the winter months.

Living On Campus:

In addition to what is above here are tips to living on campus.

1) I recommend living with a roommate. There are medical singles available at some colleges and also regular singles. I believe though that living with someone helps you become more social and helps you learn to live with someone else.
2) Get out and enjoy Campus Life! There is so much to do on campus depending on where you go to college you just have to find whats going on. If you are going to college where you don't know anyone then go and mingle at the Activities Fair, Join a Club, ect. The more you get involved the more people you will meet.
3) Stay on campus a few weekends: The last college I went to almost everyone went home on the weekends and this one people pretty much stay. Staying on campus a few weekends will help strengthen the bond between you and your new friends plus it will make you less home-sick.
4) Bring Comforts From Home: I know many of us with chronic pain have a hard time sleeping and well add a dorm bed and it makes it worse. Bringing a mattress topper, sheets and blankets where you like the touch and color will help tremendously.
5) Decorate: My room at school and room at home look nothing alike. In a dorm it may seem hard to put your own creative touches to the room when your not allowed to paint and nails and pretty much a no. I love to get peel and stick wall decorations from either the Dollar Store or Family Dollar. Each year I get different ones so my room is different every year. I also bring pictures of my family, boyfriend, friends, and dog. To make it feel like the space is mine.
6) The best thing about living on campus is that if you need to nap then you can nap. You are able to rest, do homework, pretty much anything between classes without having to drive. I love my 5-10 min walk to class each morning especially since I don't have to fight over a parking space.

If you are not able to attend college, doing puzzles, sudoku, and / or reading are great ways to keep your mind distracted from the pain of RSD, Fribro, ect. and keeping the brain active.

Healing From Surgery / Birthday

Hello Healers!

I hope you are all doing well. I am recovering from my recent surgery pretty well and anxious to get my stitches out soon. They are getting dry and itchy and just not fun to have. I am a little score still and cant lay on my right side that long, or wear clothes yet that squeezes my hip area. I am happy though that I have most of my energy back even though I get completely exausted at the end of the day still.

I started back at school last Monday. I transfered to another college as I knew I couldnt make myself go back to the one I previously went to. It didnt make since to me that I was going to a college that I felt like I was going around in circles and couldnt get out no matter how hard I tried. I studied to the point to that I was making myself physicaly sick with making the RSD in my stomach worse and getting horrible tension headaches. They also wouldnt accomidate me foodwise so why pay all the money I was to go to that school?

I love were I am going now. I live in a suite with 5 other girls, 3 of the girls have their own rooms while I share a room with one of them. The girl I share the room with is also a nursing-transfer student so we are in the same place and taking most of the same classes.

My mom threw me a little BBQ / Birthday Party today. Some of my family and family friends came over to enjoy the last weekend of summer even though the weather was already a bit cool. We went to Whole Foods yesterday to get my Vegan Cake which was delicious. I recieved a few gifts for my dorm, to get my hair done, and some cards. J is taking me out to dinner tomorrow on my actual Birthday. I cant believe Im gonna be 21! I will post pictures after tomorrow.

Thank you everyone for the well wishes from my surgery. I am healing from it wonderfuly and my RSD pain is undercontrol once again.

Surgery Update

Wednesday was my Spinal Cord Stimulator Battery Revison. I was schedueled to go in around 3 in the afternoon. I had recieved a call from my Dr's office letting me know that I was able to come in earlier since the person who was suppose to have surgery before me cancelled or their surgery was cancelled. This of course excited me since I had to fast starting midnight the night before and I was hungrey and thristy since I wasnt aloud to drink anything either except tiny sips for pills.

Everything with the surgery went well. It was around 7 or so that evening that I got released. My side was hurting but it was still a bit numb from the numbing shots I was given. The day after the surgery when the shots really wore off I was hurting. I was hurting because of the post-op pain, my battery is working wonderfully. My boyfriend came over that night which helped alot. Im not one to lay in bed day in and day out so when Im forced to due to surgery pain I get bored fast. Im not a fan of movies since I know I can be doing something else and more productive. I made a stake of movies next to my bed and well, they havent been watched. J and I finally figured out how to use the Movies on Demand feature and watched a movie the first night he came over. He came over again yesterday and since I was still hurting a good bit we hung out around the house. I did end up venturing out to get a bite to eat which made my day.

Like I mentioned a bit earlier in this post my new battery is working amazingly well. I am so happy I got the re-chargable battery vs the 3-5 yr battery. Now that I have this new battery I can tell that mine was dying and Im not scared to turn it up to get the relief I need. I have noticed that I have recovered faster from this surgery than anyother one including the revision I have done last summer. I think its because of being Vegan and eating more health oriented type of foods. I have been making sure to get more protein during this time since Im healing from surgery.

Pre-Op Tests and Rechargable SCS Battery

Hello All!

I hope you are all liking the new design of my blog. I was creative one night and instead of pulling out all of my scrapbook supplies I came on here and did a new blog design.

I had my Pre-Operative tests done today and surgery is a go on Wednesday. It is not scheduled till around 3:15 in the afternoon so I know that I am going to be pretty hungry by the time they knock me out. I always tend to believe that the fasting and IV are the worst parts of procedures. My body just cant go without food that long and getting an IV well that's another story.

I am excited though that I will be getting the rechargeable Spinal Cord Stimulator Battery so that I wont have to be going through this for at least 10 yrs or so (last how long the battery is suppose to last). I will have to charge it at least once a month or more depending on how much voltage I use but that is worth it to me not to be having to go through this every few years. The battery I have in now was suppose to last 3-5 years and Ive had it less than 3. It will be officially 3 years in December but my Dr and nurses are surprised how quick it went.

I was explaining to J (my boyfriend of 2 months) about RSD and the SCS and he was curious just like everyone is when they first here about it. I have been blessed though with a boyfriend who has taken the time to ask me questions and understand that there are somethings I am not able to do but just because I have RSD doesn't mean I cant be an active participant in life. I think we all need to keep in mind if you or a loved one has a chronic illness / chronic pain doesn't mean their voice shouldn't be heard or they cant participate in activities. We love to have fun just like everyone else.

For those who are about to be getting the SCS and would like to contact me please feel free to. It was the best decision I made and I still love the SCS today. It has helped me gain my life back and there was no way I could have done that without it. I don't feel like I "gave into it" or "settled" for it. Its an amazing piece of technology that people with Chronic Pain have been given access to.

Healing Thoughts to All!


Email: erikkaberry@yahoo.com

Surgery Date

I had a last minute Dr's appointment yesterday where we discussed my upcoming revisoin surgery for my SCS. I am happy to anounce that even though my Dr. isnt able to perform the revision himself that another Dr is willing to do it. If insurance approves the surgery everything should be a go for Wednesday with the pre-op be the Monday before.

With the revision surgery being on Wednesday will give me time to recover before going back to school on Sunday. Im not too worried especially since this is just a battery replacement.

Surgery + New Job

On Saturday night I was adjusting the settings on my Spinal Cord Stimulator. The remote in which I was adjusting my battery informed me that my battery needs changed. This is a bit problematic especially since Im going back to school in two weeks.


Another problem is that my wonderful Doctor of 8 1/2 yrs got into a car crash a couple weeks ago and isnt able to use his hands at the moment. I will update when I get my surgery date as his Nurse Practitioner is trying to squeeze me into the scheduel before I go back to school. I may only have a few days to recover from a same-day surgery before I go back.


For some good news I found out last week that I got the Book Store Job on Campus that I really wanted. It is not concidered work-study so I may have to work more and the hours may change week to week but I am not sure of that. I train on Wednesday and with my SCS battery starting to go Im really nervous. I dont want to turn it up more than I have to but I am hurting more since its not working properly. I am thankfully still getting coverage (please pray it stays that way till the surgery).




*Sending Healing Thoughts*