 UPDATED 6-22-06! UPDATED March 2007  
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We went on to be room mates on the rehabilitation floor of Bayfront when I was finally transferred there in late November. To the nursing staff we needed to become different identities for the name Pam so she became Pam #! And I of course was Pam #2. I had come onto the floor second and kind of liked the idea of being a #2 to be a constant pun for all of us. Humor was our best defense against feeling lonely or sad. She taught me so much in those two months I shared a room with her. I saw her at night as her legs would twitch and move of their own accord, which caused her a great deal of discomfort. We were both young then and made the most of our recovery together as a team. I looked up to her for being a strong single mother and was embraced by her loving family. Pam can feel things below her waist and those sensations she feels are painful. Akin to what I still suffer myself to this very day, the dreaded "Phantom Pains" we amputees suffer. In the years that have passed since 87', Pam has suffered quite a lot of pain and many operations to help try to restore her to a proper balance, as such. I refer to the implantation of a 'port' into her chest, and other things which will be talked about in our book. I first started writing as child to vent anger through poetry. As an adult I found that my love of reading was now evolving into a desire to write stories. I wrote a book to test myself, and have since scrapped it for revamping later. Then I wrote my first real novel, "Walk of Fire," about the trials facing a young amputee. It is fiction and I assure you that this story is more like an autobiography but told as a story, so that the reader can feel what it is like to live confined to a powered wheelchair, dependent on loved ones and medical professionals to do the right things for her well being. If you are disabled and want to reach out to someone who knows and understands what you're going through, or if you just trying learn more about disability, I hope you check out the fiction samples, voice your thoughts on my Web Board, and enjoy the links. If you wish to send Pam an e-mail I have added a link for each of us. Please feel free to give us your feedback on anything you've read here or elsewhere on the site.
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