That would be today, when I pulled in to my work parking lot at 8:45 and discovered all of the handicap spots were already taken. And so I called the business that owns the parking lot and asked what the chances were that they would designate more spots for disabled people. This isn't the first… Continue reading The day I went all Towanda on the world
Category: Multiple sclerosis
Future perfect
Along with those immediate concerns of health and day-to-day functioning that comes with having a disease such as MS are the other, ancillary decisions that must be thought of well in advance. Retirement. Disability. Health-care costs. Living will. Living arrangements. Nick and I are still in our first home, a craftsman cottage in a wonderful… Continue reading Future perfect
To a friend
There is nothing I can say that will mitigate the shock of diagnosis. That shift in reality, imperceptible to the rest of the world, feels like a giant chasm waiting to swallow you whole. There's some relief in the knowing, sure. There's a name to put on this ugliness, so you know what to call… Continue reading To a friend
There will be blood
... and sweat ... and tears. What MS party is complete without such a trifecta of good times? All in a week's treatment for this patient needing to get on with her life, sans these pesky MS symptoms I've had in this latest relapse. I'm finishing my last round of steroids via IV infusion today.… Continue reading There will be blood
Wordless Wednesday: ‘Cause this is thriller
And though you fight to stay alive, your body starts to shiver ... Spasticity has me doing the zombie shuffle quite expertly here lately. So sign me up for the next flash mob that dances Thriller.
Be advised
Excessive heat plus hormones aggravated by MS is an extremely volatile mixture. It produces a mindset not unlike that of a psychopath. Thus, I cannot be held accountable for any of my actions or comments in the next couple of weeks. Starting, well, right now. I know, I look so harmless on the surface. A… Continue reading Be advised
Clasping the good
Of the dozens of lives Dr. Jack Kevorkian helped end, 19 of those were people with multiple sclerosis. Among the youngest to die were Karen Shoffstal and Annette Blackman. Both women were 34. Both had MS. The illness is not terminal, like so many of the others that led 130 people to ask for assistance… Continue reading Clasping the good
Something is not right with me
So I might be (definitely) having a flare-up (pain and numbness of indescribable proportions). Damn. I am off my therapy for now. We knew that was the risk going in. I gambled and the house won. And now I'm back to Square 1, MS-speaking, if I could just drag my useless left leg to that… Continue reading Something is not right with me
Use it or lose it
An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion. Do you think Newton suspected I was being a lazy ass in the former? I've spent the better part of a year letting multiple sclerosis dictate what I could and couldn't do. Well, more like did and didn't, because it… Continue reading Use it or lose it
What I believe
That Arkansas summers are brutal. But there are worse places. And then some really bad places. That there will be a vaccine, if not a cure, for multiple sclerosis, in my lifetime. That diet ginger ale is the best drink around. That persistence can pay off. That you can't help but smile at a bird… Continue reading What I believe
One, Wild & Precious 