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Problems

The story goes that when I was born the doctor took one look at me and said, he will have problems all his life.  The statement was true.  

The first thing that my family noticed was that my eyes moved uncontrollably.  They didn't know why.  They couldn't fix it.  And my parents couldn't afford it anyway.  

I didn't find out until I was 35 that my optic nerve was too small.  This meant that my eyes were constantly adjusting in order to see.  A person with a regular optic nerve can do things like this with no problem.

I struggled in school.  I started school in special education.  I moved out of special education and continued to struggle with my vision, but I did relatively well even though my vision was not correctable.  

I felt that I was called to become a minister.  I went to college after high school.  I caught herpes of the eye and struggled with out breaks each year, but maintained a 3.23 grade point average.  

As graduation approached, I asked my congregation for a recommendation.  In their recommendation, they said I could go, but they didn't think I could make it in graduate school.  

This made seminary problematic.  My professors were good to me, but I was already under a microscope.  

My vision did make ministry provblematic.  Eventually I move from ministry to librarianship.  

I had other problems.  

I had problems with my legs.  The muscles and nerves of my legs seemed to have atrophy.  I went through several tests until I was diagnosed as a carrier of muscular dystrophy.  My wife and I had trouble having children.  After finding I was a carrier, my wife and I were told that it was a good thing we didn't have children, because their lives would be short and painful.  This is another problem my doctors may or may not have known about.

I was extremely bow legged at birth.  My knees were always a problem, as well as the muscles and nerves.  Eventually I was not able to be as active as I wanted to be.  I finally had to have both knees replaced and straightened.  

I assume that I will have other problems as I age.  


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