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This has been a crazy year for our family.  The birth of our grandson Ian Alexander Hawley has brought so much joy into our lives.  I spent a winter in Washington DC.  It was my first winter up north in seven years.  I did okay during the winter.  It was June/July with it's rain that caused me the most issues.  Both of my feet have been swollen and cracked

NEW ON LINE SUPPORT GROUP FOR CRPS RUN BY NANCY RENEE COTTERMAN

Facebook has been making all sorts of changes making it very difficult to run our support group: Ketamine Klub For CRPS/RSD Patients.  I am starting a new support group which will give information on all treatments for CRPS, research articles and support for it's members.  The group can be found on the web site for my non-profit:  www.crpspartnersinpain,com

Click on CRPS Support Group and sign up.  Right now I have to approve all posts.  Once we all get familiar with this new protocol, I will remove the caveat that I must approve all posts.  Please join me in our new support group.

For those in Ketamine Klub For CRPS/RSD Patients, the site will remain there but I will not be receiving email updates after mid-August as I am going to deactivate my account.

Sincerely,

Nancy Renée Cotterman 

Strength

It has been quite a while since I have had time to post.  It is amazing what you can do when you have to.  Since Ian was born, just over 4 months ago, I've been doing things that I haven't done in years.  There have been some ups and downs since Ian arrived and I was able to step up and help out.  I surprised even myself.

Having Ian in my life has been a great joy.  He is always smiling and happy.  I have been here in DC with him all but 2 weeks and 4 days of his life.  I have watched my daughter bloom into a wonderful mother and my son in law a wonderful involved father.

Next week Kim's best friend will begin to take care of Ian and another 4 month old as part of a nanny share.  My role will begin to wain.  It is great that things have stabilized but I will miss being here every day seeing everything that Ian does.

Reflections

I have been in Washington DC for nearly 12 weeks now for the birth of my first grandchild.  I have one week left until I must head home.  It is going to be extremely difficult to leave.  A lot has happened in this 12 weeks that have required me to push beyond my CRPS limits.  I've been doing things that I haven't done in years.  For example: I walk to and from my apartment and my daughters house daily (a half mile).  I have been doing housework, laundry and grocery shopping.  All of these are things that I ordinarily do not do.  In spite of all of this extra physical activity, I have only had one really bad flare up.  I guess it has really been a mind over matter experience.  I've been beyond exhausted at the end of every day but exhausted in a good way.

I am honored that my daughter and son in law wanted me here for Ian's birth.  Even though his birth didn't go as planned, we managed.  We had some other difficulties that put more of the responsibility of daily activities on me but I have enjoyed being needed.

I am already planning my next trip to visit so that it won't be as difficult to leave.  When I return he will be twice as old as he is now (now 2 mo will be 4 mo in July).  I doubt that he will remember me after that length of time.

This has been one of the most memorable times of my life; after the birth of my own children and my wedding.  My goal is to be able to come up here at least quarterly so that I can have the type of relationship with Ian that Kim and Laura had with their grandparents.

Book Release

Hi!
I am pleased to announce that my book CRPS/RSD Facts, Fiction and Feelings is now available as an e-book.  Go to:  www.crpspartnersinpain.com to order your copy.  All proceeds will go to CRPS Partners In Pain.  CRPS Partners In Pain is a 501 ( c ) 3 non-profit whose sole purpose is to assist those in financial need get the treatment that they would otherwise be unable to obtain.

Additionally on our web site, you will find information on CRPS and current articles of interest to those with CRPS.

~Nancy Renée

Being a grandmother with CRPS

March 12, 2013 my adorable grandson, Ian Alexander was born.  I traveled up to Washington DC on February 25th to be there incase the baby came early.  I was a childbirth educator, pediatric nurse and a midwife prior to CRPS.  I was honored that both my daughter and son in law wanted me to be there with them during the birth.  At 39 1/2 weeks, the baby turned breech.  Attempts to turn him failed.  Being well versed with the medical profession; my job was to make the hospital experience as uncomplicated as possible.  We had only met the physician who delivered Ian once.  He arranged for Kim to have the cesarean.  From the anesthesiologist who allowed Bennett to be in the room while the spinal was given, to the pediatricians who allowed me to follow Ian to the nursery for his first exam, to the nursing staff who helped us breeze through the check list to discharge quickly everyone did their best to make it a good experience.  Since Kim, Bennett and Ian were being discharged with a RN, we left the hospital in 40 hours after Ian's birth.

Kim was amazing.  Taking nothing stronger than Ibuprofen for pain, she breezed through the first two weeks postpartum.  She began running at 4 weeks postpartum.

From the time we entered the hospital March 12th until now, I have been walking 1/2 a mile to and from my apartment to their house, making meals, doing grocery shopping, laundry, etc.  All things that I do not do at home.  By 5 weeks after Ian's birth, I had cellulitis (an infection of the skin and underlining tissue) and sores on the bottom of my foot.  A photo texted to a RSD doctor and a call to my physician got it under control in a few days but it was a tough few days.

Right now, the only things that Ian needs me to do are to hold him, and change his diaper.  Once he becomes mobile, will I be able to keep up?  I guess if the last two months are any indication, I hopefully can.

I look at my daughter (my baby) holding her son and watching her as a wonderful mother gives me hope that I will be able to continue to assist them and be involved in Ian's life to the best of my ability.

Anniversaries

3/4/96 at 7 p.m. the car accident that changed my life occurred.  For years, I would be depressed around this date.  For the past few years, I remember what happened on that cold March evening, but not with sadness.  For most people who have had a traumatic event in their life, whether it be the death of a loved one, an accident or a diagnosis, certain feelings come up surrounding that anniversary.  Many get angry all over again, others get depressed and others choose not to let this affect them year after year.  Life altering events cause us to grieve.  We grieve for what could have been.  We are angry that it happened to us.  If you go full circle in the grieving cycle, you finally come to acceptance.  Acceptance in no way means that you roll over and give into the disease, accident or diagnosis.  Acceptance is what you need to do to move on with your life.

Believe it or not, wonderful things can come out of a tragedy.  I was once asked to write down all of the positive experiences that I have had since my accident.  Believe it or not, there are many:

• I learned how strong of a person I am
• I have met wonderful supportive people who I never would have met without having CRPS
• I have been able to put the skills that I have learned through nursing, to help people who otherwise may not have had access to that information 
• I feel that my girls are more compassionate and caring women that perhaps they would have been
• I learned that many of my friends, were not true friends because they drifted away after my diagnosis and yet there are friends who have hung in with me for the past 17 years.  I know that they are truly my friend.
• I feel like there is a reason that this all happened to me because I am able to help others who have not lived with this disease as long as I can.

So I celebrate today.  I have learned over the years to pace myself, to choose what is the most important things and do them knowing  that the next date I would pay for it with a higher pain level.  There are some things that are worth doing even though you know that you will over do it.

Over the years, I've wondered if the 19 year old who hit me even remembers this day.  I seriously doubt it. There is no way that she could know the events that followed that accident.  She has no way of knowing the years of pain and anguish that that accident caused me to have.  She was simply a 19 year old headed towards an intersection on her way to a date, who made a mistake and hit my car while she was making a left turn.  We are all human. We all make mistakes. It just so happened that her mistake caused a huge impact on my life.  She had no way of knowing that.  I will always remember her name, but I'm sure that she doesn't remember mine.  That's ok because I'm ok.