bio

MY BIO

Hey! Thanks for stopping in to read about me/my life and family. I've attempted to break
it down in events by how they happened, and as briefly but detailed as possible.

When I was born, I was born with some birth defects. For instance, my hands have four
fingers and my feet are perpendicular to each other. The doctors discovered I had an inperforated anus, which means that my bowels wouldn't come out. They noticed that I didn't have a vagina. With all this, they sent me to Columbia Presbyterian, which is a hospital in the city. When I was there, they noticed that my nose passages weren't opened so they opened them up. They also noticed that my kidneys weren't functioning properly. I was in the hospital for about seven weeks straight. I was fed with IVs. When I was one month old, they put a feeding tube in me because I wasn't eating. I was in and out of the hospital for testing of my kidneys.

My family consists of one brother and three sisters, with myself being the youngest. Their names are Thomas, Deborah, Mary and Colleen. My parent's names are Dennis and Irene.

When I was about five or six months old, my sister Mary was holding me while I had the feeding tube in my stomach and it got caught on her sweater which had pulled it out. She was crying and saying "I killed her, I killed her." Then my mom had come running into the living room and was saying "What is the matter?" and Mary replied "I killed her!" My mom said "No, you didn't. The tube came out because it was caught on your sweater." My mom then called the doctor and he said they should attempt to feed me through my mouth. My mother said I cried while she fed me. Slowly I began to eat through my mouth.

When I was one, I was in and out of the hospital for all different kinds of tests, mostly IVPs.

When I was about two, I had surgery on my anus. The doctors moved it back because it was too close to my urinary tract and it would have caused a lot of infections. I was in Columbia Presbyterian for about three weeks.

Every six months I was in and out of the hospital for sisthscope (sp?) tests. They are tests where they stick a tube inside your body to find if there are any blockages.

When I was almost three, we went down to Florida to see my Aunt Claire and Uncle Vern and my cousin's Joan and Vern. When we were down there, all I remember was that Tigger came up to my dad and messed up his hair. I thought that was the funniest thing! While we were there, we had Thanksgiving dinner with my Aunt Claire and Uncle Vern.

When I was three or four I went into the hospital to remove my adenoids and polyps which were located as you may know, inside my nose. I also had tubes put in my ears because I had a lot of ear infections.

I was five and a half when I started school because my parents didn't think I was ready when I was four and a half because my birthday is December 22, 1969. The cutoff to register is the end of the month so they waited for the next school year.

When I was six I had an operation on my hand because I had six fingers on one hand, and four on the other so they took two off to make it even. So now I have four fingers on each hand. Another reason they had taken them off was because they were in the way of my every day functioning.

While in Kindergarten, they noticed that I had a slight hearing loss and they corrected it with hearing aids. Also, when I was six I got held back in Kindergarten because my parents felt I needed an extra year there.

Skipping a few years ahead, when I was ten, I went into the hospital to check my kidney reflux, which meant one or both valves are defective. Fortunately, they checked them and they had seen they both had repaired themselves.

When I was thirteen in 1982, I went into the hospital for a sisthscope (sp?) test again, like I mentioned earlier. I was asleep for that procedure. Also in 1982, I went to the hospital for an operation. They had considered removing my female organs because they thought they might turn to cancer, however, they left them because everything looked OK.

In January of 1984, I went into the hospital for a stretching of my Vagina. I went in the morning and came out the same day. My Grandma Bergman died that same day.

On August 8, 1985, I was sixteen now, I had an operation which consisted of creating a Vagina which had been absent all my life. They required a piece of my intestines and moved my anus to make room. At this time they decided to also take my female organs because they were now malformed. They only left one ovary so I could develop the proper hormones.

In 1988, I had a tube put in my right ear because I had a lot of wax build-up and many ear infections.

In the Fall of 1991, I had gotten Chicken Pox. Unfortunately it was all inside my body, especially my mouth and vagina area. I was 22.

In June of 1992, I had an additional tube put in my right ear again because I had a lot of wax and ear infections.

On August 31, 1992, I went into the hospital because I was constantly vomiting for about a week. The doctors continued to take tests to try to understand why I was so ill. About a week later, on September 8, 1992, I had an operation on my intestines because they appeared to have kinks that were causing a blockage. I also had adhesion; which is a thickening of scar tissue; so they needed to remove that area that was blocking.

On December 13, 1993, I had a bad fall. I fell coming out of my sister's back-door stairs. I was black and blue for about a month. I had a big bump on my head that looked like a golf ball was in my head. When I went to the hospital, ironically we discovered that I have Thyroid problems.

In 1994, my family and I went on a vacation to Virginia. The kids were on a kiddie ride and my brother-in-law Frank and I were standing there watching them. I put my head on his shoulder and I said to him "I feel wheezy." The next thing I knew I was being awakened by a nurse and my whole family. They ...... [ Next ]