A-Z promising quotes: Quitting

Quitting isn’t an option with multiple sclerosis. First, people don’t generally die from MS. It’s not a life sentence, it’s a lifelong condition – at least, until medical research finds a cure for it.

But sometimes one might feel like quitting. Or maybe just ceasing to try. That’s not hard to understand – from the MSer’s viewpoint. There simply are times when life with MS becomes downright difficult and possibly discouraging.

But quitting doesn’t work, especially if we stay in the quit position. Maybe any of us has quit for a moment or a spell. It’s just dangerous to wallow there, I think. I’ve tried that, and it leads to bad places.

Before I was diagnosed with MS, doctors thought I had a brain tumor. For six long months, I endured MRI after MRI. I went to see an oncologist.

I waited for results … and a clear answer. By the time the neurological experts finally figured out I had a weird looking MS lesion – and not a really scary big brain tumor – the news came as a relief.

“Thank God it’s MS, instead of brain cancer,” I said.

See, that’s the thing.

If the doctors had immediately pinpointed the MS, I would probably have been even more devastated about it. But, from the perspective of waiting out a possible brain cancer diagnosis, the news was a much lesser blow.

MS is still terrible. I hate it. I wish I didn’t have it. But I am unmistakably glad I don’t have a humongous amorphous and potentially changing glioblastoma lurking inside my skull. That was about six years ago, and I am still here, giving it all I’ve got to kick MS to the curb.

Maybe life really is all about perspective.

So I am not quitting. And I hope you won’t, either.

Here's an inspiring quotation from American minister and positive thinking author Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993):

"It's always too soon to quit."

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Created by this user

with public domain artwork

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M.S.? Is this a MiStake?

Sometimes ya gotta wonder. I surely did.

How did MS rear its angry head in my life?

Here’s the quick run-down - how my MS story started.

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.

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:

• Looking at Life with Multiple Sclerosis
• The Tumor Is a Rumor

 

Image/s:

Eye chart made by this user

Dragon Slayer -

public domain artwork

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