Four years ago I fought off a life-threatening bout of bacterial meningitis and blood poisoning .  In the insuing seven months it took me to recover I had to resign myself to the loss of both my lower legs, and my right thumb.  I suffered a mild stroke and severe nerve damage as well.  I thought, when I lay in that hospital bed, that I would never be able to string together more than a single sentence at a time again. That I would never read or write.  I knew I would never put my toes in the sand or walk across bare wood floors, but would I ever be able to do a crossword puzzle, or write a story, or make a website (  I actually hadn't done that yet)?  Would my cat know me after such a long time away?  Would my husband still love me a year, or two, or four years down the line? How would I garden?

       I've proven able to do everything but the toes in the sand.  I have made my website and started blogging.  I came home in time for my old cat to know me and let me hold her through her last days, and now have two that have replaced her.  There's a hound named Parker who curls up in the spot my legs would have been and who keeps my stumps warm at night.  None of the annimals think it strange that I tool around in a wheelchair.

       My husband loves me and loves me and loves me.  And I love him and love him and love him.  Has it always been easy?  No.  But I doubt even without such tragedy our marriage wouldn't have suffered from the problems that assail most marriages. The words, "In sickness or in health," were  never so innocently, or what turned out, ironically spoken.  We are both disabled, but I tend to garner all the sympathy.  Which isn't fair because I think he physically hurts more than I do.  It's just hard to miss two amputated legs. 

        I started this website as a pictorial of all the things I love.  I didn't want a lot of words.  Just beauy that, with the touch of a button, would lead you to the site that created it.  The only words are in my blog, Ponderings.  And here.  I hope that through each story I can not only show you how it was for me pre-meningitis, but how it is for me now.  There's humor in this, I promise. 

 

                                              Ann