Join My Site...

http://youareoneofakind.webs.com/apps/cafepress_shop/

FACTS:

• The word, 'Arthrogryposis,' means, 'curved joint,' which implies the joint is fixed in a curved position. Arthrogryposis Mulitplex Congenita (AMC) means, 'curved joints,' in a number of areas of a person's body at the time of their birth. 
• Anything that prevents the common movements of a baby while they are in the womb may lead to contracture, where their joints do not have the opportunity to move with full range.
• Extra connective tissue fixes a person's joint in place, limiting the joint's movement, leading to tendons around the affected joint and an an inability to stretch to their common length; something that makes joint movement after the child is born even harder. When limitation of movement happens over a period of several months there tends to be a lack of growth in the child's limb as well, something that can make the severity of the contracture they experience more intense.
• Read more: http://www.disabled-world.com/health/orthopedics/arthrogryposis.php#ixzz1XHvEQffE

Makeup...

I don't wear makeup that often, my husband tells me i don't need it...hes so sweet. There are some days though that i want to play with my eyes though and add a little kick to them. Makeup can be a little difficult sometimes. To put it on i just use a wall or counter and push my arm to my face and proceed to apply lotion and powder to my face. Next is eye shadow and eye liner...eye liner is the tricky part. Since my right arm can't reach any higher than my belly button, i cant hold my eye still while trying to draw on the liner. So i just do it the best i can, but when im done putting it on i kinda look like a raccoon so i take some tissue and wipe towards my eye until there's a thin line of liner. Then i finish with mascara and lip gloss.

Showers...

I love taking showers, but its a bit hard to wash my hair if its long. Right now its short thank god, it makes it so much easier to wash myself. To wash my hair myself i have to put the shampoo on my head and then rub my head on the wall, kind of like a cat rubbing on your leg for attention. Im sure it looks pretty silly but it works good enough, not so well for long hair though. If i really want my hair to be really clean then somebody has to wash my hair for me, so most of the time my husband and i just take a shower together.

Shaving...

My armpits and legs aren't impossible to do, it just takes forever and i don't do the best job. When i started growing hair in those areas my mom shaved for me. When i got older and my little sister Ashley started shaving too she started helping me...she really did a lot for me and i know she hated it but she did it anyways. When she did get older i tried not to ask her so much anymore, instead i started asking my stepmom. I didn't really want to ask her like every other day to do it so i would just wear short or long sleeves that didn't show my hair. I remember on hot days not being able to wear a tank top or go swimming, it sucked but it couldn't really be helped. My family used to call me Chewbacca, but i didn't mind because they didn't mean to be mean and i knew that and would just play along with it. Now a days my husband or my friend Lisa will help shave me, and after im done shaving it looks like we shaved a cat, gross i know but true. I want you guys to know everything, even if it's embarrassing im still me and always will be.

Brushing My Teeth...

This is pretty simple, i just put my arm on a wall or counter and push until the toothbrush is in my mouth. I tend not to do it right away in the morning unless i have to, because i am very stiff in the mornings. Sometimes in the morning if i try to do it my left arm will lock up and i just have to keep pushing until it pops, and its a loud pop and a bit painful.

My Hair...

My hair took a while to figure out, brushing it is pretty easy for the most part. To brush it i have to flip my head upside down and throw my arm up as far as i can until there are no knots, then i flip my head back up and push my arm on a table or wall and move my head until i think it looks ok. I can't put my hair up or anything, just a headband is about it. If you ever saw me with my hair up or anything besides a headband then somebody else did my hair. Like my parents (yes even my dad), grandparents, friends or even my husband. There are times when i wish i could put up my hair, but what can you do...no use crying over spilled milk right.
Using a hair dryer is a bit tricky at times...i used to have this blow dryer that had a built in brush and boy that was a great invention. One day i left it on the floor, stepped on it and it broke so i had to get a new one. Then i got one called a Princess, that one has a stand and a thing that went on top of it to push the air where you needed it. So like i could set in on the counter and point it towards me and i could brush my hair with a hand free. But again the piece that points the air broke when i was pulling off of the hair dryer, so now its just a normal hair dryer with a stand. So now i have to hold the hair dryer between my legs, flip my head like i do to brush it and brush while i try to dry my hair. Its pretty much impossible to dry the back of my hair so i just have to let that air dry.
Straitening my hair is hard, i don't know how many times i have burned my forehead or clamped down on my ears. Can you say HOT! I have to do it pretty much like brushing, i lean on the counter, flip my head to the side and then try and catch some hair in between the hot plates. I know its a talent, and if i want my hair curled i just take a shower and have my friend Lisa put my hair in a messy bun, and later when i take it out its curled. Yep thats how i do my hair, no products either...well besides hairspray sometimes. If you try to do any of the things i talk about you should comment or write a message to me telling me how it worked for you.

Getting Dressed...

My parents separated when i was about 3, my mom took Ashley (my little sister who was 6 months at the time) and I to Texas with her and she pretty much did everything for me. Fed me, dressed me, most everything i think. I believe that it was just easier for her to do it then watch me hurt to do something simple. This went on till i was about 5 years old. After that we pretty much lived with our dad full time. He had gotten married to my stepmom Kristin, and she had two boys of her own and was pregnant with my other little sister Haley. She had her hands full with 4 kids and one on the way so she didn't really have the time to do everything with me. One day though we took all day and she was trying to help me figure out how to dress myself. She had also bought me a book that had zippers, buttons and snaps stuff like that so i could practice stuff like that. But that one day i remember trying like 50 ways to put on a shirt. It was hard but i at one point knew how to put my shirt on 3 different ways. One of those ways was to lay the shirt on the floor and to scoot into it while laying on my back. The other way was the way i use to this day, i put my arms through the shirt and lean against the wall until my head goes through and the shirt is on. There are some shirts that i cant get off myself, but normally i try and get my right arm out of the shirt and then pull it off over my head. Doing this though i tend to stretch out my shirts so if i can i get help. Pants are pretty easy after i learned how to button them, but i hate the pants that have no zipper just a bunch of buttons. I think i covered getting dressed.

Eating and Drinking...

I dont remember how old i was when i started to learn how to feed myself, i just know it was before school started. Im sure i look a little strange when i eat and drink, but i didn't really notice until somebody said something about me leaning and why i had to. I had never noticed it before, but i do i lean to the left...i assume its because my arms are shorter and i have to push my arm up to my mouth to eat and drink. My left arm is permanently bent and looks almost like its always in an invisible sling. They bent it when i had my surgery so i could feed myself, brush my hair and teeth...stuff like that. My right arm they left straight so i could put my pants on, shave and other stuff. I do remember in elementary i couldn't open the milk cartons. I always had to ask a teacher or a friend to open them. Im sure this next statement will sound dumb to some people but i remember being embarrassed to ask people...and i remember wishing i could do that. One day none of my friends were at breakfast and i was sitting by myself, and all the teachers were busy. So i started to try and open the milk. It took about 10 minutes, but i had opened it by myself. I remember running to the principal Mr. Jurgenson  because i was so excited that i wanted to show somebody. So when i told him he came in the cafeteria with me and handed me a milk carton and told me to do it. He watched as i opened another carton, and he said he couldn't believe it and said he was going to go call my parents. He did and when i got home my dad was so proud of me. Any time in my life, even to this day if i do anything that i couldn't do or thought i couldn't do i would get so excited. It's an overwhelming feeling. Its like im high on life, truly at those moments i don't think anything could take that feeling away. I think when that happens adrenalin runs through my body and when that goes away i am back to normal, and i wish that feeling would never go away it's that great. I have had many of those feelings, and i'm sure i will talk about them all but i think this was my first great proud moment.

Surgery...

Before the age of one i had my surgery to correct my arms as well as they could. I also have Arthrogryposis in my hips, knees and ankles. My knees and ankles aren't that bad, so i didn't need surgery on them. My hips i guess were pretty stiff though so they did physical therapy with me to loosen them up. My arms were in cast which seemed like forever. I still have the cast actually, so when i get batteries for my camera i'll find them and take pictures. Other than the casts and stuff i was a normal baby. I couldn't learn how to do normal things that babies start to learn though, like feed themselves, walk, go potty in the potty stuff like that. The only thing i did learn was how to talk, and boy did i learn how to do that fast. When the casts came off it was time to learn walking. Had to do that at physical therapy, i wore a big bright red helmet (ill find the pic sometime) i was very unbalanced so i fell a lot. My grandpa (my dads dad) would make things to help me all the time, like spoons so i could feed myself, bars to put my arms on when i walked, low tables and chairs so i could draw and be normal. My grandpa used to carry me on a pillow when i was little, when you ask him why he says that i was so precious and he was scared he would break me. My grandparents and other family members like my aunt tina, and uncles tim and adam used to watch after me all the time, i dont know where i would be without them. They still all help me to this day, and i love them all very much, i dont show it that often but i do. As i grew up though i learned how to do things a bit different. My stepmom helped a lot, because of her i know how to put on my shirts 3 different ways. I may talk about shirts in my next blog. Thanks for reading!

My Name...

Hi, my name is Melissa and i am 20 years old and live in the middle of the United States, Iowa. I have grown up here for most of my life, I was born here but shortly after moved to Texas and then moved back. The day that i was born however im sure my parents were surprised, you see i wasn't the normal or perfect baby they were hoping for. As i was being delivered the Dr. realized something wasn't right. Only after i was completely delivered did everybody get the full effect of what was wrong. My dad says that my skin was gray, i had no shoulders and i couldn't move my arms. Right after i was born i was taken to i assume the NICU. (Newborn Intensive Care Unit) When the Dr. had taken a better look at me he told my parents that i had Policemans Tip. They didn't know much more than this. Later when they took me to Iowa City the Dr. said I had Arthrogryposis. (Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita is a condition that causes many joints to be stiff and crooked at birth. A newborn with Arthrogryposis lacks the normal range of motion in one or more joints. A joint that lacks normal range of motion is called a joint contracture. These joint contractures develop before birth (prenatally) and are evident at birth (congenitally). Arthro means joint, Gryposis means crooked, multiplex means multiple and congenita means existing at birth or present at birth. Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita is an umbrella and descriptive diagnosis. This means Arthrogryposis can be caused by an underlying condition or syndrome. This underlying condition is usually the type of Arthrogryposis.) At the time i was born 1/3000 babies born had this condition, now its a bit less because if they catch it they can normally fix it before the baby is born. I on the other hand required surgery and lots of physical therapy. As i have grown up people have always asked me questions about my condition, i have written stories and done projects about what its like to have Arthrogryposis and it seems to help people understand better about the different things i have to do to live. So for those of you that are to shy to ask i am going to try and cover everything...and if i dont cover something you have a question about, leave a comment or message me your question on facebook. 


                                                             Secret.Writer