Growing up I was a serious tomboy. I didn't like playing with Barbies or other girly things, though I did like my Cabbage Patch Doll name Lisa Ann. I requested Transformers, Voltron (had to be the lions not the cars) and GI Joes, specifically Snake Eyes. I distinctly remember when I received Optimus Prime as a gift. I spent hours playing with him, Soundwave, Rumble and Megatron. I did like strong female characters like Cheetara from Thunder Cats because she was fast and I even liked She-Ra a bit but I really I gravitated toward Wonder Woman because she was strong, fierce and had an invisible jet. When we were kids we would talk about what superpower we wanted to have and while others wanted to be strong like the Incredible Hulk or have X ray vision like Superman, I wanted to be invisible like Princess Diana. Well, not like her but her jet. It was cool to me even though you could see her in the jet (I thought) and I figured that it would allow me to watch people from a safe distance and not be seen. Wonder Woman used her powers to save people from evil, I wanted it to people watch and observe habits. The irony of this all is that 20 years later I find myself in a category of people who deal with invisibility all the time.
In August of 2009 I began on the path of invisibility when I had the worst headache of my life. There was an audible noise, like a rubber band popping and then I had a rush of pain. I thought I was having a stroke or an aneurysm of the brain so I drove myself to the hospital. It wasn't advisable at the time but I was home alone and afraid. Thankfully, the hospital was only five minutes up the road. The tests came back clear but this was just the beginning. I saw Neurologists including a Neuro-Opthamologist, regular Opthamologist, Cardiologists, an Endocrinologist a Dermatologist and a Rheumatologist in the last nine years. I've had to do my own research most of the way when doctors gave up on me and told me that I was crazy. I was able to find other people who who suffered with similar ailments and I formed a bond in our walk. There are people who look like me who, on the outside, look fine but who are suffering on the inside.
These are my Invisible Warriors because we defy the face of disability that society has become so used to seeing. We may use a cane today and might not need it tomorrow. We may need to whip out the wheel chair or walker for a week but can fold it up and put it away for several months. We may be bed bound for a month and walk in to the store unaided because we have just enough energy to do so. We are seen and misunderstood because our suffering does not fit the norm. I don't begrudge it any more. I've accepted it and claimed it as something else that is unique about me. My super power is Invisibility. What's yours?