Jan 18 2009
The Time Traveler’s Wife
Last year I read an awesome book entitled The Time Traveler’s Wife. The premise is about a man who has a genetic defect that causes him to travel through time. He never knows where or when he will time travel and it causes much anxiety to him because he has to keep his time traveling a secret, all the while trying not to miss important events in his life (like his wedding!). Stress increases the risk of him time traveling and he has little to no warning before a time travel will occur.
While I don’t have the ability to time travel, I do consider having achalasia to be a genetic defect. Just something that I was born with that took over twenty years to start expressing itself in me. One of the side effects if you will of having achalasia is having spasms in the esophagus. Not every achalasia patient gets them and I believe everyone can get them to different degrees. As in TTTW, they can come about with little to no warning and for me are greatly correlated to my stress level.
I have had kneebuckling spasms in some very inconvienant places. I teach school and remember my first spasm I had in class. My students freaked and called 911. Once help arrived they attempted to give me an asthma inhaler as they thought I was having an asthma attack! Luckily a fellow teacher familiar with my condition was there to explain what was happening.
I’ve had them in church, while driving and the best is being awaken from a dead sleep with a killer spasm. My oldest child knows to run and get me a drink when I start crying. My husband is a saint and very understanding when an arguement ends with, “I’m having a spasm!” I mean, only a heathen would continue an arguement when their wife is screaming in pain, right? 
All in all I realize having spasms is akin to having curly hair. It’s just the way I am and makes me me! While I don’t pretend to understand why God chose me to give this lovely condition to, I do know that he and I have had some words and a lot of bargaining on my part during said spasms. Maybe one day the spasms will stop but until then, I’ll continue to carry a bottle of water with me every where I go.
