The last 3 years
My name is Jessi. 3 years ago I was diagnosed with FND (Functional Neurological Disorder). I was diagnosed after I had a heart ablation for one of my heart conditions, and I had an infection spread from my heart to the head. FND is a really hard condition to be diagnosed with as every time I go to the hospital or an appointment I have to explain it to people. 5 years ago it stopped being classified as psychological and switched to being classified as Neurological after they found changes in fMRI scans, but a lot of people are still stuck with it all being in my head. I have to keep trying to explain to people it isn't, and that I am constantly working so hard to improve myself and the condition for me. Since the FND diagnosis, I have been diagnosed with 5 heart conditions, conditions in most other organs, had many, many, many surgeries, and sudden sensorineural hearing loss. Before this condition, I only knew about the heart condition, but I used to work as a nurse and study, as well as have my license and generally live life. Now I am trying to restart all over, and I have found painting is a skill of mine and joined an awesome Boccia Paralympic Team which aims to go to a future Paralympics. I still face disability discrimination in a few ways, such as being forced out of uni on multiple occasions, as well as the more obvious discrimination that many other wheelchair users find. It is still extremely hard to try to handle these new features of my life, but I am doing what I can.
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