Sometimes ya gotta wonder. I surely did.
How did MS rear its angry head in my life?
I suddenly went blind in one eye.
It hurt like crazy, so I
went to the Emergency Room, where the doctor decided to treat me with
antibiotics for an apparent sinus infection.
I had the whole blurry, tunnel vision thing going on. I had
the eye socket headache.
Of course, the sinus infection idea made sense. I’d had
plenty of those, along with crippling migraine headaches, for many years.
The E.R. doctor also suggested a follow-up consultation with
an eye doctor, just to be safe.
So, the next day, I sat in a dark eye exam room, with an
optometrist and her medical partner. And I listened to this conversation:
“Maybe
she has lupus.”
“It
could be a brain tumor.”
“What
about MS?”
“How
old are you, again?”
“MS
is never diagnosed at that age.”
“OK,
so maybe it really is a brain tumor.”
I wanted to stand up and scream,
“ I cannot see you, but I hear everything you say, doctor!”
The pair of befuddled eye doctors. both bleary eyed by now,
sent me post haste to the nearest university medical center for a brain MRI.
And so my MS
journey began.
Of course, it took nearly a year to settle on a real diagnosis. And the neurology experts continued to bat around the whole scary brain tumor possibility for at least two years.
Of course, it took nearly a year to settle on a real diagnosis. And the neurology experts continued to bat around the whole scary brain tumor possibility for at least two years.
But the MS tag
finally stuck.
Still, I refused to surrender to the MonSter.
Since then, I’ve continued riding young horses and run my
first 5Ks, 10Ks, and half marathons. I’ve finally seen some of my book concepts published. And I have a whole lot more plans to follow.
C'mon back, because
those stories will show up here.
I am not suggesting it’s been easy. MS is tough stuff.
Some days, I can hardly muster the wherewithal to go get the mail. But on other
days, I still stand and fight.
And I salute all of the fellow MSers, who combat this beast
on their feet, in chairs, with canes and walkers, and every which way they can.
Someday, we’re gonna slay this dragon.
Hey, ya just gotta.
The MS MonSter’s not gonna win.
Related Items:
Image/s:
Eye chart made by this user
Dragon Slayer -
public domain artwork
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