I'm Getting a Service Dog

Over this past year, my life has had a lot of changes in it. Walking has become increasingly difficult. In fact today I went to a doctors appointment where the doctor said that either I would have to walk with a dislocated hip or a hip contracture. There is nothing that the doctors can do anymore. For the most part, I will continue to loose my ability to walk until I am wheelchair bound or mostly wheelchair bound. Similarly I was diagnosed with a condition where the treatment would give me heart failure. This is difficult because this condition makes it very hard to walk, or even stand up. Either I can treat one condition and most likely damage my heart, or I can protect my heart and deal with having to be mostly sedentary. Clearly, there is no option that is good at the current moment.
The reason that I am writing about this is not to talk about how my medical conditions are making my life difficult, but instead it is to talk about new hope. This weekend I was able to go and train with a service dog. He was so cute and lovable it was so hard to focus on any of my disabilities. Although he was cute, any dog is cute. This dog has been training for years to be able to help an individual with a disability. He can push disability push plates, assist with picking things up, and most importantly for me assist with walking and getting up and down from the floor as well as getting up and down the stairs. For the first time in years I felt as if I had my life back. I was able to perform tasks that I have not been able to perform since I was diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos. At the end of the day there was such a different that I did not have to take my pain medication because the dog was able to help me perform so many tasks that I usually have to try and force myself to do even though it causes major dislocations.
The plan is that eventually the dog will go everywhere with me. I know there will be a lot of staring but it is completely worth it because I will be able to have a life again. Similarly, I am already stared at, the only difference is that with the dog people stare and smile instead of stare at me and say they are sorry or just awkwardly look away and walk past me like they were not staring at me to begin with. There are so many things that I  used to be able to do that I have taken for granted. Everybody takes the simple things for granted until you are in a position where you are unable to do those things anymore. For me the big thing that I always took for granted was the ability to walk. The world is not a very accessible place so  being in a place where you are not able to walk without pain is very difficult.
Although I have so many disabilities, I am still judged. To most I am to "disabled" to be "normal" but to "normal" to be "disabled". Some people will accept that I have a disability when my hip is dislocated and my limp is bad, but most of the time I look like an average 22 year old. People are unable to see that I get dizzy every time I stand up, that I have half a heart but thats okay. The best thing about the dog is that he will love me no matter my disability and will be able to help me be more active and out in the world. Everybody is given their own challenges and just trying to do the best that they can, so when you see a service dog feel free to smile but don't ask a million questions. If it is a true service dog it went through years of training to assist somebody that a true disability, even if the disability is invisible. I have not been this optimistic since receiving my original diagnosis and can't wait to see what the future holds. Never give up hope.

We Believe in You 

- Tremors and Nemo