Pain constant part of art teacher’s life

“In my early 30s, I started getting sick. I had headaches and dizziness. I lost my hearing at one point, and it came back. I started getting sinus infections all the time. I had sinus surgery, but nothing helped.

“I got diagnosed with Lyme disease, and I took medications for that for 18 months. I got down to like 90 pounds. I also was diagnosed with a neuromuscular autoimmune disease called myasthenia gravis. I just could not hold my neck up. I was always trying to prop it up. I had severe pain. And I was having migraines.

“When they did an MRI, they found a tumor on my cervical spinal cord. But they said it wasn’t causing any of my pain. That was a tough pill to swallow. They told me it was the most dangerous place to have a tumor because all your nerves go there. We watched it for two years. It grew very slowly. Then they said we had to get it out. Because if it kept growing, it would take up the spinal cord, and I would be paralyzed from there on down. They were able to remove it all. It was benign, thank goodness.

“Before the surgery, they told me that I was going to be left with some damage. I had to learn how to walk again. And it left me with pain. Like my shirt or my hair, anything that touches my skin, sends off pain signals. It’s bizzare. Trying to deal with it, I can get pretty agitated toward the end of the day. It is constant pain.

“Before all of this, I don’t think I would have believed there’s a level of pain people can be in all the time and have to function. It literally never stops. It affects everything. You just have to kind of play like it’s not there. People around you can forget how hard it is to do anything, because you get really good at faking it. There’s no choice.

“People will tell me that I’m strong. I hold up pretty good unless I start talking about it and thinking about it. I break down sometimes. And then it’s just like, well, I’ve got to get up and get stuff done. You just kind of learn to do what you have to do to function.”

— Sheryl Duncan

An art teacher at Barbers Hill High School, Sheryl is back in a wheelchair after breaking her ankle about two months ago.

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