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 My name is Tim  and I am 16 years old. My birthday is 8th October 1981.
I have a sister, Claire who is 2 years older than me, my mum is Mary, my dad is Graeme and
we have a Lakeland Terrier called Nelson  and two cats, Patchy (16 years old) and Koko.
We live in Perth the capital of Western Australia and I am in my last year of school. Next year
I hope to get into University to study Aviation as I would like to be a pilot. I have already
started flying lessons and have my GFPT which means I can take friends up for a flight but only
in the local area. I also play Rugby in the First XV and do Athletics where I sprint and hurdle.
The other hobby I have is this computer. I want to do Computer Studies at University as a Minor
in my Aviation degree.
My sister has moved to Sydney this year to study Ballet as she would like to get a position in a
European ballet company next year.
At the end of my first year at school, when I had just turned 6, I started vomiting at a friend's birthday party and couldn't stop. After about 3 days of this I was admitted to hospital where they thought I had a rotavirus causing gastroenteritis. This happened several more times and each time I was admitted and put on an IV drip but no medications would stop the vomiting. Mum said that I looked as if I was almost dead, I was so white and had big black sunken eyes and would not talk or move. After 4 -5 days I would feel 100% better and would go home and be perfectly well until the next episode. I was then examined from head to toe, with blood tests, Xrays, ultrasounds, MRI scans and even ear testing. Nothing was wrong with me thank goodness but I was then diagnosed with CVS Having this diagnosis didn't help me too much although we did now know that I didn't have a brain tumour or liver cancer or anything terrible like that. The doctors could still not find any drugs that would stop me from vomiting and I would still be admitted to hospital for 4 -5 days with an IV for dehydration and vaious drug trials. Eventually I would be sedated with Chlorpromazine and cogentin to prevent the side effects from that drug, and Ranitidine for the stomach acid. This went on for years - sometimes the episodes were only 10 days apart so I missed a lot of school around the time I was 9 - 12 years old. I still managed to play Rugby but we could not go on holidays because I would always get sick and we would have to come home. One famous time was when Dad brought me back from Bali - the airline thought I had cholera! Besides going away for holidays, other things that could start things off were infections such as a cold or bronchitis, exhaustion and, once, a broken hand. Some episodes started for no reason. Things began to get better around 1993. This was the year Mum started the Australian CVS Support Group and we were able to meet and talk to other families who also had CVS. It was quite a relief to know that I wasn't the only person who vomited that way. Mum had phone calls from all sorts of people from all over Australia - some were even crying with relief. She also made contact with Kathleen and Wendy who had just started groups in America and England. These two ladies told her about a drug called Zofran which people were experimenting with for CVS. It is usually used for people who have bad nausea and vomiting with chemotherapy, so it was difficult for our doctor to get permission to use it at first. It was like magic for me the first time we tried it! After having the IV in for only 5 hours I sat up and said I felt better. At the first sign of an episode, always early in the morning, Mum would phone our doctor to tell him we were on the way and he would organise to have everything ready at the hospital. We found out the hard way that I would have to get the Zofran straight away or it wouldn't work, and I had to have a pretty high dose too.
At the end of 1997 I started vomiting again! After another 5 attacks I was put on Pizotifen, which is a migraine drug, every night. I also have Zofran tablets which I can take if I think I am about to get sick again. These two drugs seem to be keeping things under control thank goodness. Things are quite good at the moment  and I hope they stay that way. Living with CVS is awful for
all the family not only me. I have had some bad times such as when one boy at school said I had
AIDS. To pay him back I rubbed Blutac in his hair and got into big trouble. Mostly though people
have been understanding once we explained about CVS and it has not prevented me from doing most
the things I want to do. I have good friends who care and now all I have to do is work hard at
school to get to where I want to go and not let this thing get on top of me.
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