Hello all

Hi to all,

My name is Sam (samantha) and am in Hobart, Tasmania. I am 37 and have been living with CP for 13yrs & it sucks (as we all know). Are there many other Hobartians out there? I had probs with my back growing up, but when I was 17 & invinsible and fell off a stock grate on to a pile of wood - quite a drop! thankfully or not depending on how you look at it, I was most certainly under the influence of a fair amount of booze. So as teenagers do, I just let it heal and forgot about it. I started Chef(fing) at 22 and finally found my passion in life. Uni was not my thing, despite doing a couple of years. I managed (and I use that term very loosely) to work until 2004 when me and my body just fell apart. This year has been the best I can remember (I feel like my old self is coming back), my headspace is good. May it stay that way!! A big thank you to my Psychologist, it has helped SOOO much. I was only able to get these sessions beacuse FINALLY Medicare has a Mental.Health .Plan form so you get extra free visits (6 I think) on top of the Enchanced Primary Care form. I couldn't afford to see a Psych myself, and at the Pain Clinic at the hospital you may be lucky to get 2 a year (they have now finally put on another one - so 2 who work 2 days a week). Mental health must be looked after with chronic pain, they unfortunately seem to go hand in hand. Enough of my boring stuff, I was only going to say Hi.

Sam