This story is a Text Book of Medicine, you read this & you will be the best doctor  part -2

Hi Folks...

Way back in 1972, when I was just 18 years old, I was the epitome of health.

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I lost count on how many lumbar punctures were performed. I couldn't feel them anyways... and I couldn't feel the EEG's or whatever else they did because all I could do was move my head back-and-forth along with my eyes. I couldn't feed myself. My older sister sat with me all day and spoon-fed me until the paralysis began receding and movement began rising out of the ashes.

March 27, 1972 is when I entered the hospital... May 20,1972 is when I was released, in a wheelchair- still unable to walk. What used to weigh 125 lbs going in... now weighed 96 lbs going out.

The Guillain Barre Syndrome strikes only once. It does not return. It is not "chronic" and never will be. It does, however, leave you with residual problems in some cases, depending on the intensity of each individual case.

Because the first to go, is the last to return.

In my case, 31 years post GBS? My toes cramp and my feet ache... and... I'm 2-faced. One side works, and the other side doesn't.

GBS triggered a genetic autoimmune disorder. Neurofibromatosis. The kind "minus" cafe au'lait spots and skin tumors. They do not exist in my case.

The only nerve in my body that is "read" by my Schwann Cells as being "damaged" is my 7th CN. I've been overrun for 25 years by schwannoma and neurofibroma. In 1999, I had a massive craniotomy. They removed the left side of my forehead and temple and excised tumor after tumor from the floor of my orbit and optic nerve, plus networks of them from my left temporal lobe. 12 hours worth of surgery involving 2 arenas of medicine. Six months after the cranie, I had stereotactic radiosurgery targeting the one growing in my cavernous sinus. Just recently, my oculo-plasty opthalmologist removed two neurofibroma from the same orbit. One from the roof that was pushing my eye down... and one from the floor that was pushing my eye forward. Bulging eyes look horrific, but not anymore.

I have the two best specialists in this part of our country working diligently to keep me alive and well. I have one more surgery to go, and that is to reconstruct my eyelid.

All from a single flu shot... that triggered GBS in a healthy, 18 year old gymnast. I watched Olga Corbett pull off that spectacular back-layout/hand-spring on the uneven bars parked in my wheelchair in front of the television set.

Avoid all flu shots. I mean that with all my heart. You CIDP people! No no no! If you have taken them regularly, please stop. Think back on your episodes and try to remember if you had taken any. I hope not... but if you did, you may have found the trigger.

Take Care,
Take Care,