Phyco126

Not a question, but in reference to the doctor who said you would be mentally handicapped.

Within the first 6 months of my wife's life, her mom noticed she wasn't hitting the developing milestones of other babies that age. So her dad (then a new doctor) took her to a specialist doctor he knew at the hospital where he worked.

Her brain was significantly smaller than a normal brain. Her dad said its 1/3rd the size of a normal brain (I know he is the doctor, but I still don't think it's that small but we don't have money to get a new scan done). Not only that, but she has cerebral palsy. The doctor told her parents to love her as much as they can because she would never walk or talk. The doctors even recommended giving her up to live in a care center for the rest of her life. Her parents absolutely refused.

While her dad dedicated his life to staying in the hospital at all times (he was angry that his child was defective) her mom refused to give up. She would read to her, do physical therapy with her, so on. Nurses volunteered to help take care of her so that her mom could get rest or go shopping. Their neighbors also pitched in and spent time with her to give her mom a break.

At the age of three, my wife spoke her first words. At the age of six, she took her first steps. She had to have surgery on her left leg. Her massive scars remain, but that surgery allowed her to have more strength in the leg to make walking easier. It wasn't the easiest life for her.

Now she is married (to me, obviously), works full time, has a bachelors in English, was top of her class, and worked as an intern speech writer for the White House. I have pretty good grammar (not the best or perfect, but decent) and spelling. Even so, I give her documents to proof (she always finds something, even things my English professors missed).

Its not always easy - she can't drive. She has some memory issues (so she keeps journals) and occasionally has trouble articulating what she wants to say. She has trouble with stairs so we'll have to add rails to the other wall in our house as well as rails to the steps leading to the door. She has walking issues - so occasionally she'll trip. When she trips though, its bad. She can't catch herself like other people can, so her head takes the full force of the fall. She's been hospitalized for seizers and has had massive concussions from her falls. Her last fall was two and a half weeks before our wedding and she suffered a two inch long gash under her chin that went all the way to the bone, requiring over 15 stitches. I cried as I rushed to get her to take her to the hospital. I never cry.

Anyway, the whole point is this - she wants to find that doctor who said she would never walk and talk and do the nelson ah ha to his face and scream "IN YOUR FACE! YOU WERE WRONG! SUCK IT!"

You are a champ for dealing with everything you are dealing with. Props to you man. Also props for going for network security. I'm in college for IT myself. When asked why I don't do network security, I always have the same answer - the math. Fuck math. I suck at math. I study and study and study and still barely get passing grades in college algebra. For IT Security I would also need to do calculus & trigonometry. I can't even get my head around calculus (I tried though). So even more props.

Edit: I should add, her dad loves her very much. Her dad and her mom have been married 40 years. He got over his anger 30+ years ago and has been a very faithful father to his daughter and son. He also never gave her special treatment. She hates special treatment.

I have a friend who is deeply right wing conservative. I asked him what he thought about this initiative, and his response was basically "awesome". As far as he in concerned, this is the result of humanity correcting the wrongs of itself without the need for government bailouts while still seeing capitalism as working. Basically, its a win-win for everyone.

What is the tallest building you have cleaned? What is the average height?

I'll ask her. Personally I'd rather see her do a AMA about her time as a speech writer intern in the white house.

She is willing. So long as we don't forget we will try and do it sometime in the next couple of weeks.