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My name is Anikka Cassidy. I am 16 years old and I am in Grade 11. I'm a competitive Pre-National Rhythmic Gymnast, Coach in training, and dedicated Ballet Dancer. I am a positive leader who loves to encourage others and create change and to advocate for things that I find extremely important. I also suffer from CRPS which stands for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. CRPS is a chronic pain condition that most often affects one limb (arm, leg, hand, or foot) usually after an injury. CRPS is believed to be caused by damage to, or malfunction of, the peripheral and central nervous systems. The central nervous system is composed of the brain and spinal cord; the peripheral nervous system involves nerve signalling from the brain and spinal cord to the rest of the body. CRPS is characterized by prolonged or excessive pain and changes in skin colour, temperature, and/or swelling in the affected area. I have CRPS-I which means mine was caused by an injury or mass trauma to my right leg. My trauma is either knee surgery or a foot injury but it's hard to pinpoint exactly what caused my CRPS. I assumed, as most people would, that after recovery, I would be back doing what I loved. I would be dancing, doing gymnastics, running track, and weightlifting like I did before the knee injury. However, on June 18, 2017, I showed the first signs of having CRPS.
I woke up on June 18, 2017 with a sore ankle. I assumed I had rolled it whilst walking around with my friends the day before. I hobbled downstairs and asked my mom to rub it however, when she went to touch it, I immediately had an intense burning feeling in my foot and ankle which sent me into a state of shock. We assumed nothing was wrong so I did what I would normally do when my ankle hurt; warm bath, ice, and gentle stretching. I remember placing my foot into the bathtub and screaming because it felt like I was placing my foot in hot lava. I was super confused but since it was father's day, I put on a brave face, grabbed my crutches and helped get everything ready. This was the beginning of a very long week.
On June 19, 2017, I had to write my Chemistry 20 Final Exam so I jammed my swollen foot into an air-cast, put on my knee brace, and grabbed my crutches. I wrote the exam and did alright but my leg was in such excruciating pain. I went to my physiotherapist after the exam and he sent me straight to the emergency room because he was worried that I might have a blood clot from the surgery. They sent me in for an emergency ultrasound which showed nothing. They sent me home in more pain than I was in before.
On June 20, 2017, I went to Banff to talk to my knee surgeon about what was going on. He said it had nothing to do with the surgery which was a relief as well as a curse because I still had no answer to what was causing me such severe pain. I then drove back to Canmore to go to a walk-in appointment with my chiropractor. She did a simple exam of my right leg and told my grandfather that I needed to go back to the hospital as soon as possible. I was then brought to the Canmore Hospital where I started to exhibit shortness of breath, it was caused by a severe panic attack. The Canmore emergency doctors were baffled by my symptoms so they made a few phone calls and I was rushed back to Calgary Children's Hospital via ambulance. When I arrived in Calgary, my foot was so swollen and had such severe colour change that it took them 30 minutes to find a pulse in my foot.
On June 21, 2017 at 1:32 am, I was diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. I was confused by my diagnosis because, like most adolescents, I assumed that chronic pain was only a thing that happened to old people. I was put on 300mg of Gabapentin 3 times a day and 10mg of Morphine every 4 hours as needed. I knew it was going to be a long and painfully slow recover but I knew that I could do it with support
