Greetings and Salutations, Bergen County! My name is Liana Kraenzlin and I will be doing my best to tell you about the life and times of Crescent Commons-one week at a time. To start, I will impart some information about myself...I was born and raised a Morris County girl. Budd Lake is an extraordinary place to grow up with no shortage of trees, streams, and small-town charm and familiarity. In high school I dabbled in theater and music, yet I never waivered from my career goal-to be a registered nurse. I attended Rutgers University College of Nursing and was well on my way when I was sidetracked by inexplicable numbness on the left side of my body. Looking back, I now know how wise my doctor was to send me to a neurologist right away. He must have sensed what I would soon know-that, at the ripe age of nineteen, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. It's difficult to remember that period in my life. I thought of quitting school and accepting what seemed like my inevitable descent into disability. My family, friends, and even professors encouraged me to stick with it, go through the rigors of nursing school while experiencing a host of unfamiliar symptoms, sensations, and medications.
I graduated in May, 2000 with my BSN and quickly began working at St. Josephs Hospital in Paterson, an internship in women's health which led to full-time employment on a high-risk pregnancy/surgical unit. MS was certainly an issue, periodically requiring extremely high doses of steroids intravenously to abate my increasing symptoms of numbness, weakness, and visual impairments. I worked there for six years, much longer than many expected me to, my neurologist among them. By the end of my hospital days, I knew it wouldn't be long before I was using a cane full-time, a wheelchair after that. I moved back home with my mother, found a less physically demanding job as a clinic staff nurse. The physical setbacks were increasing in both severity and frequency, and I quickly graduated from cane to walker to power wheelchair. I learned how to drive a hand-controlled car and worked one final year exclusively from the wheelchair. Summer of 2011, I came to accept that I could no longer stay employed. I worked for eleven years with MS, surviving several broken bones and hospitalizations throughout.
It was around then that it was becoming increasingly impossible for me to live in my mothers house. I had my own first floor space, lovingly dubbed "Apartment B" but no handicap accessible bathroom or living space. I was just surviving, really, not living. Then, a mass email from the National MS Society: "Housing Opportunity in Allendale!' I was intrigued to say the least. My OWN space? A home I could call my own and feel safe?! The answer was yes-my dream of having my own space to feel safe and DO something could come true. But first, there was the application process.... which I look forward to telling you about next week, because for now, my feet have swelled to the point that I simply must abandon my desk. Cheers!
