Stronger than Borderline!

Back to the roots

My name is Carla, I'm 35 years old and I come from Switzerland. 

I have always been a bit special.

Since I was very young, I had major health problems. Shortly after I was born, the doctors detected several defects in my heart. They were "ventricular septal defect (VSD)" and "atrial septal defect (ASD)" plus a malformation of the aorta. So I was fed by a NG tube until I was eleven months old. At that time my parents had to make a decision because I was not doing well at all. I couldn't stand the tube so I regurgitated all the "food" and that didn't help me gain weight. I was very weak and I was getting infection after infection. The doctors said that if they operated on me, there was a high chance of me dying because I was too weak. But if nothing was done, I could have also died of malnutrition or another infection. So my parents had to make a very hard choice and decided to have me operated. When I imagine my parents were 24 and 25 years old at the time... They are superheroes to have been able to make that decision and I will be grateful to them for the rest of my life.

So if I can write this «book» and be grateful to my parents, it means that I survived this major operation.

During the hospitalisation, I was also diagnosed with spinal deformities. A scoliosis, a kyphosis and two hemivertebrae. This meant that I had to start physiotherapy with Helen quite quickly. I am very fond of Helen, she treated me until I was 18 years old. Looking back, I realise that she did a wonderful job with me! It was not effortless because I am sure that I was not the easiest patient. I had to do exercises that often hurt and I cried a lot. But it makes sense. When you think about it, when a child has to do things that were painful without understanding why it hurts and without understanding that it's for their own good, it must be mentally very complicated to accept.

After these complicated episodes at the beginning I lived a happy childhood surrounded by my parents, Lina and Georges and my sister Fiona, a very loving and open family. During the hospitalisation my parents were with me day and night. Fiona often had to stay with my grandparents. She is two years older than me and it couldn't have been easy for her.

So my childhood went very well, I entered kindergarten, then in the elementary school I made several friends, we use to think about us as the cool kids. I was also the first girl in my school to have a boyfriend.