When the doctors suggested I get a wheelchair, they never told me how it would work or how dependent I should be on it, or how to adapt my environment to it or anything. Luckily, I figured it out by a lot of trial and error, but I wish I would have figured out the physical therapy stuff years earlier. I was getting too dependent on my wheelchair. I seldom transferred or got out of my chair. My back stared killing me all the time. I was weak everywhere, especially on my left side. I was tired all the time. Little things like dressing and going to the bathroom wiped me out. I felt my body systematically shutting down. I wasn't ready for this. It was all going to quickly. When I was little, I looked to doctors to know everything about my health. When I was sick or hurt, they always knew what I should do to feel better. But when the rare, incurable disease showed up, I became the expert -- the only problem was that I didn't know what would help me either. Doctors don't like to admit they don't know stuff. Mine always read the general pamphlet before seeing me, so they appeared knowledgeable, but it became quite evident that I knew more than them after 5 minutes. This is a vaguely terrifying prospect for me. I know I'm smart, but I also know I have no real background in medicine. I am not qualified enough to be in charge of my own health care. Am I? I know I can' prescribe things for myself. I have to get a doctor to agree with me. One day a few years ago, I was doing some research on the internet (I didn't do research often because it is often a fruitless, frustrating task that leaves more questions than answers.), and I found something this time: physical therapy was found to be a beneficial treatment in people with my disease! So,I discussed it with my clueless doctor a few weeks later, and he agreed I should try it. So, off to physical therapy I went...