ACTION

I am Severely Disabled at times.. Exercise is something only a few can do! I walk with Two Forearm Crutches at home and a Walker outside and Now I am in a Wheelchair all the time I am awake! It is Very Difficult to get exercise as I have lots of aliments.. 

Hi Everyone! 

My name is Kristi Ann aka MsGuidedAngel. I was born in Northern California in 1960 in a small town Called Healdsburg, California.

This is My Story below. Doctors discovered my birth defect "Pectus Excavatum" right after I was born. I don't remember the doctors or the hospitals I was taken too. I know my mother told me I was taken to Shriners Hospital and others before I could remember anything. My mother and father moved from Northern, California in 1964 to Southern, California.

My daddy took a higher paying job and their were better prospective hospitals in Southern, California in 1964. I had to wear a special T brace from age 2 to five, I also had to do special exercises rocking back and forth while holding my ankles with my hands while on my chest. I wasn't allowed to ride a bicycle at all until 1968 or 1969. Wonderful doctors at Los Angeles Orthopaedic Hospital Foundation treated me so nice and gentle. Well, 1965 came around, many x-rays, more than I care to remember, brrrrrrr, it was cold in there. My one wonderful, loving doctor, Dr. Bruer operated on me in 1965 at the Los Angeles Orthopaedic Hospital . My center Sternum Bone was Fused to my Back Bone when I was born.

I missed a lot of school in Kindergarten . I remember to this day 45 years ago today, nurses rolling me into a big room, I asked my doctor what the big light was for, he said "It will make you go to sleep sweetie". I don't remember the surgery to well, thank goodness! What I do remember is me laying in my hospital bed looking down at myself laying there with all this machines hooked up to me, and my mother and father crying. I now know what I was seeing. My mother told me much later in my life the hospital kept me unconscious (Induced coma) for three or four days after my surgery. So, I must have left my body and watched them and myself. It's no wonder I believe in God ( My FATHER ) from then on! I spent a long arduous road healing in 1965.

I don't remember how long I was in the hospital; I do know it was a long time though. My pin came out of my chest in 1966 or 1967, I got an ambulance ride to the hospital, kewl, and I didn't feel any pain. I truly thought my mother poured ketchup on me . The pin had threads on it so it would work its way out all by itself. My mother still has my baby book with the pin and my wrist band in it to this day! Anyhow, I was put to sleep again so Dr. Bruer could remove my pin. This pin was inserted into my chest bones to help keep them steady from clasping back in again. I had to wear a special made brace from 1965 to 1968 around my chest area. After I seen my doctor again in 1968, he gave me the go ahead so I could have a bicycle now. I was elated, and so happy I could have a bicycle now!! I got to pick the any bicycle I wanted at the Schwinn dealer; it was a happy day for me!!! As I was growing up, I had pains in my chest bones. The doctors said it's because I was growing. 

In 1995 I contracted Pneumonia and had x-rays done on my chest again. The doctor told me after I got better; he wanted to show me something I had no idea what it was either. After I got well, the doctor showed me my x-rays and explained I had wires in my center sternum bones. As I looked at them and showed him my birth defect he then knew why the wires were there for. I had no idea, not even my mother knew I had stainless steel wires holding my chest bones together still. I was shocked myself to know I had those wires within me still. My doctor explained to me they were probably put there to hold my chest together while I was healing. Plus he told me they are deeply embedded with in my sternum bones that it's impossible to remove them. I am happy now I'm alive to this day I thank God for helping me through my life. 


Updates 2004 & 2005:

Sad news now. I have arthritis in my rib cage, and have to take special medications to help control my pain. I also have two ruptured disks in my back at C5-C6 in my neck that I have to wear a rigid Neck Brace all day. My other disk rupture is at L4-L5 in my lower back and its worse than my neck, as its pressing on two sides of my spinal cord with not enough room for the nerves to go through it. I have to walk with a set of Forearm Crutches now inside, and a Four Wheeled Walker Outside. I believe everything happens for a purpose in our lives. I have faith in God and believe He will help me through this. My Past was taken care of, so my future will be as well. . " Remember, everything will be okay" Updates 2005.. I Won my Social Security Disability Claim August 22nd, 2005 YaY! Praise God!!



God Bless, YSIC \o/

KristiAnn 
lilPrincess
MsGuidedAngel
Admin/Owner
Kristi Ann's Haven