*Professor Wonderful has been my neurologist for a little over a decade. When I first became ill at 19 my symptoms broke me. I went from being a confident but accident prone 19 year old, who loved every second of her degree to a spasming, wheelchair bound young adult whose carefully planned out career was slipping through her misshapen fingers. The day my mum collected me from uni I cried the whole way home. I was on sick leave but I knew I wasn’t coming back. There was a twisting pit in my stomach that knew it.
Over the next few months we would clasp at every hope offered that I would get better. Meanwhile I continued to deteriorate. Every road we took was slightly different but each one mentioned Prof Wonderful name as the expert in my symptoms. My mum being the force of love that she is found his contact details and emailed. A few weeks later we sat in his office.
After months of seeing consultant after consultant, each previous appointment more crushing than the last I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I was used to being told I could stop my eyes from spasming if I wanted to, being told by multiple consultants that my symptoms were the result of the abuse I’d gone through in my teens, or being left with the results failed operations (a mouthful of broken wires ) with the spasms broke the wires being used to try to control and he ghosted me rather than fix the mess. My expectations were low. Yet my preconceived judgement vanished when he shook my hand and immediately noticed my hypermobility, he referred me to a specialist that day which resulted in my EDS diagnosis. I can remember crying in the lift after the appointment. They were tears of hope.
He did so much more than provide injections. He listened. When I got ahead of myself when my symptoms improved and thought I could go back to midwifery he gently disagreed. He was right. When I’ve needed my team’s to communicate he has fought to ensure they all do to help ensure I’m getting the right care. When he left his post at the hospital I was first under him at I was reassigned to a different consultant. He refused to give me injections at my usual frequency or dose. I went downhill fast, so contacted my original neuro who immediately had me transferred back to his care.
When he informed me on Tuesday he was leaving and no longer would have a patient facing role it was all I could do not to be cry like the last time. I knew it would happen one day. I’d just hoped it would be a long way off. After all these years he is essentially a comfort blanket of sorts, a safe place amongst the god complexes and arrogance that I’ve come against time and time again. I’m nervous about this new chapter. Here we go.
Dystonia and Me 