This web site was created by many different people, and put together on an
Apple Macintosh iMac, running Adobe PageMill, Adobe PhotoShop, and Microsoft Word.
The official CD for this website is Healing by Todd Rundgren, Bearsville Records,
1983. If you're bleeding, then everyone can see you're bleeding/They can call for the
doctor and provide what his diagnosis says you're needing/ And he'll take away your
pain/But if your heart, your heart has been broken, and you don't wear it on your sleeve/ No
one can tell, your hell goes unspoken, but there's one thing you must believe:
Time heals the wounds no one can see...
Acknowledgements
I would never have survived this accident and its aftermath, and recovered
some semblance of a life, without the help of dozens of people. I'm grateful for the help
of the doctors at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Idaho Falls
Medical Center, and Spaulding Rehab. I am especially grateful for the help and constant
encouragement of my family practice doctor. And big props to my neck doc, Dr. Robert
Edmonton.*
My husband has been a rock throughout all of this. He has survived,
with grace and humor, things no 38-year-old husband should ever have to go through,
and accepted our family's losses with such a courageous spirit.
I couldn't walk, use my left arm, drive, or work at all without the help
of my many physical, occupational, and psycho-therapists. Throughout my hospitalization
and rehab, I was cared for and encouraged by nurses, LPN's, and home health aides;
ambulance drivers, cabbies, pharmacists, receptionists, the people at the WCW company.
I'm thankful for the folks at the Y, who took me back at work even when I could only work
two hours a week.
My gratitude to my friends, former clients, and neighbors, is unbounded.
Everyone has cared for me and rolled with my disabilities in a really generous way.
My neighbors, who took turns walking me once a day for the first two months I was home
from the hospital, when I was not allowed out by myself -- you are amazing.
I would never have recovered any sense of personal safety without the help
and unending kindness of my attorneys, Doug, Rick, and Jennifer.
People say that when something like this hapens to you, when your life,
your body, and your sense of self is destroyed, You really find out who your
friends are... It always sounded so ominous before. But if you read the sentence
literally, you see its true meaning. What I found out is what I had always suspected but
never had to test: that my friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, and caregivers are
loyal, dedicated, loving people whom I can rely on when things are blackest. Once I
escaped from the Baptist, I gradually began to remember again that I rest upon and am
connected to a web of human kindness that holds me up and protects me. I really have
found out who my friends are, and I couldn't be more grateful.
My special gratitude goes to Dr. Nathan Schweitzer*, who took me in when
I had been thrown out of the Baptist without the treatment I needed, and when I had
already been maneuvered into refusing him once. Especially during the pain, fear, and
despair of that first year after the accident, sometimes the only reason I didn't just
curl up and die is that I couldn't stand the thought of disappointing him. For all of you:
You've been so kind and generous...
I don't know how you keep on giving.
For your kindness I'm in debt to you.
For your selflessness, my admiration.
For everything you've done, you know I'm bound...
I'm bound to thank you for it....
You've been so kind and generous...
I don't know how you keep on giving.
For your kindness I'm in debt to you.
And I never could have come this far without you.
For everything you've done, you know I'm bound...
I'm bound to thank you for it...
Oh, I want to thank you for so many gifts you gave,
the love, the tenderness, I want to thank you.
I want to thank you for your generosity,
the love and the honesty that you gave me.
I want to thank you, show my gratitude,
my love and my respect for you, I want to thank you...
I want to thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Oh, I want to thank you....
- Kind and Generous Natalie Merchant, Ophelia
Disclaimer
(c) Copyright 2001 Functional Fitness. All rights reserved.
No portion of this web site, or
any document linked hereto, may be copied, reproduced or distributed without the author's
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of her private medical records, whether or not posted on this web site, and expressly
prohibits the unauthorized use, copying, reproduction or distrbution of her medical records.
All information contained on any page of this web site
is distributed with the understanding that the authors, publisher and distributor are not
rendering legal, medical, accounting or other professional advice or opinions on specific
facts or matters, and, accordingly, they assume no liability whatsoever in connection with
its use. You should always consult with your legal advisor, friend, trusted doctor, or
employee benefits adviser with respect to your situation.

Although my friends and family put up this web site for me, I take
responsibility for its contents myself. If you have a beef with this site, take it up with
me. God help me, my abusers and their buddies all know where I live.
If you are a peripheral party to this story, and feel there might be minor
factual errors you'd like to see corrected, call me. I'll be happy to talk with you about
it.
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