Hey guys,
Sorry about being away for so long, I don't have a good excuse. I do, however have plenty to talk about today.
Firstly, it snowed. Again. Which I don't like in the least. So I've skipped my Biology class in lieu of hiding in the language centre because I have all of my other classes in here today, therefore I don't have to go outside.
Once all of my classes are done I'm off to do my German project with my friend. After this I'm going to a talk about mimicking accents when learning second languages. This should prove to be most fascinating, I think, and I'm very much looking forward to it.
After all of this fun I'm going to Sarah Slean's concert tonight! I love her music so much and this will be the third time I've gone to see her. If you haven't listened to her music I highly recommend it, it's stupendous.
In other news I'm fairly certain that I have a stress fracture in my right foot. It hurts like a b*tch and I can't stand for more than 5 minutes at a time. Which really sucks because I have a 4 1/2 hour shift tomorrow. F*cking wonderful. And there's something wrong with my ankle, too.
Have I mentioned that I hate this body of mine? It breaks so much more often than it's worth.
I promised you some time ago that I would tell you about what is wrong with me and I suppose now is as good a time as ever since I have an hour to play with before Russian starts.
I have a genetic bone disorder called osteogenesis imperfecta. Basically this means that I have brittle bones. I've broken 17 bones in my life- not counting broken fingers, toes and stress fractures- and my last fracture was five years ago when I was 13.
On a genetic level OI is a mutation of the 17th chromosome which codes for collagen formation. Collagen is the protein which makes bones strong and forms a few appendages like your ears and your nose and things. Imagine collagen working in the bones like when you interlace the pages of a phonebook. Only two tanks pulling in opposite directions can tear those phonebooks apart. With my bones, it's like the phonebooks are only partially laced, so it takes considerably less to pull them apart.
I am actually very lucky; there are many types of this disorder and I have the mildest form. Children with the most severe forms won't live for very long. But, even within forms there is variation. Some kids with the same type as me have had upwards of 50 fractures. I have had 17. My brother has had 3, and he is 16.
If you have ever seen the movie Unbreakable with Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson you will note that Jackson's character had the same type of OI as I do; it's called Type 1. I promise that I'm not as crazy as his character, though. At least not quite.
The scale for ranking the severity of OI is a little... nonsensical to say the least. I'll only rank the first 5 types, because I'm not sure exactly how types 6 and 7 play into all this, they're relatively recently discovered. Mildest to most severe:
- Type 1
- Type 4
- Type 5
- Type 3
- Type 2
If you have any questions about OI or about life with the disorder don't hesitate to leave a comment, I'd be more than happy to share about my experiences with OI.
I'm going to leave you with that for now. I hope you guys are all doing well!
Yours,
~Alexandra
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