My Health Journey

My name is Regina and was born on June 15, 1968 in Richmond, Indiana. When I entered the world and right from the start they realized something was definitely wrong physically. I was born without a rectum. I was small in size and they were very concerned about how long I would be able to live.

The doctors, at that time, were not equipped with the care that I needed since it was a small local hospital. My mom had a C-section and, therefore, was unable to travel. They recommend that I be sent immediately to Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis, IN. To this day, I don’t know why I wasn’t taken by ambulance if I was “that bad off” but my Grandma and Dad put me in the car and drove to Indy. The story that I got from them was that the Richmond doctors were very worried about me making the long trip to Indy and they just recommended that I just needed to be held and loved. Once there, they hoped I would get the help I needed.

Apparently, it was a long ride and in the middle of a terrible storm. My Grandma held me the whole way and they prayed the Rosary. She told me that when they went through a bad part of the inner city when arriving at Riley, kids were throwing rocks at the car. She told me it was just like they threw rocks at Jesus. She knew I was a special person that God loved.

I was in the hospital for about three months.

I have been married to my husband John since 1994.

and have been blessed with two children. Our son is a Junior in High School and our daughter is in 7th grade. I am the only child, but both my parent’s families were large and therefore, I have tons of cousins to play with and never missed not having brothers or sisters.

My life journey began leading me down a road full of health complications. Immediately after I was born, my parents were informed I had congenital heart defects along with a wide variety of other medical issues. From that point on, my parents and I were constantly learning about myself, how the body works together, and the importance of keeping thorough records – which now I call “My Operators Manual.”

This manual has grown and come in as a handy reference when meeting new doctors or having the cumbersome task of filling out medical history forms every time I turn around it seems. It is also somewhat amazing when I look back through it to recap my own life and try to remember what I’ve been through, when and what the procedure was for. Now, when I meet a new doctors, I pretty much just hand them a “Table of Contents” of my “Operators Manual.”

I had started writing a story about my life pertaining to the medical aspects and my faith which helps me get through a lot for my children to someday read and understand me a little bit better from my “behind the scenes” point of view. My mom encouraged me to continue writing it before she passed away in 2010. However, I thought, “Why would anyone want to read about me? What can my story do to help someone?”

This Blog stems from a post I made on Facebook last month letting my friends and family know my recent medical condition update. I received several comments that a should write a blog. After thinking about it for a while and having co-workers read the post and asking them if they found it interesting, and receiving positive encouragement from my husband and my cardiologist (I gave her a copy of my first post today!), I decided that my story could actually help a lot of people including parents who have children of serious medical conditions, particularly the heart.

Because I am a visual person, and I have to absolutely keep track of sodium intake and learn even more about living a healthy lifestyle, I am trying to figure out the best way to create a health manual for myself. My goal is to list foods and their sodium content as well as other nutritional facts and low sodium recipes to be able to plan meals accordingly. So, why not do this and have other people benefit from it too! Let’s face it, we all should be eating better and knowledge is power. Who knows where this could lead, but God will guide me through – like He always has in the past.

Writing my story and documenting events of my medical life are not new to me, just putting them on “The Cloud” will be. It’s something people would have never thought possible before all the technology advances over the past couple of decades.

I hope that through my writing about how I am forming a “health manual” for myself to follow and lessons I have learned and will continue to learn, will inspire and help others struggling with diet, exercise, and overall improving your quality of life!

Sincerely,

Regina

*I am not a doctor or nutritionalist. Please consult your doctor for any diet or medical changes you may have personally.