My Chronic Companion MS

Some of the best ideas come from other people. Let me explain.
A friend of mine wrote to me last week saying that she was glad that I had started a blog and was wondering if I was going to do any writing concerning my battle with MS. To be truthful I had not really thought about it. I don't like talking a whole lot about it because to me it gives this part of my life a bit more attention than I would like to give it-it gives more life to the MS. As far as I am concerned it is merely a part of my life and I don't want to be defined by it.
However, since she is one of my best friends I started to rethink my original position. So this is what I have decided: over the next few weeks I am going to give you an insiders look into what it is like to have a chronic disease. I will give you some history as to when I came down with it, and then I will address what it is like to live with it.
I will also write as to how this has affected my career, my marriage, and the boys. This in many ways is not going to be the easiest thing that I have wrote about so I ask you to pray for me. If you have any questions that go unanswered please let me know and I will do my best to answer them. So without further delay...
I remember the date quite well because it was our 10th wedding anniversary, November 2, 2001. This is the day that my body was going to tell me in some very obvious ways that not all was well. I was in our living room deep in thought (really) in front of the fireplace and Nickie came in to see what I was doing. To her frustration I did not respond. The problem was I couldn't. I could not move, I couldn't talk or respond in any way. Looking back it was as if I had had a stroke. With Nickie's help I eventually got up and started to walk around. I was leaning on her and it was like I had just come out of a very deep sleep.
This happened a couple of more times as the week went on and I was eventually taken by ambulance to the hospital. They couldn't figure out what was going on so I was transferred to a hospital in Seattle (at the time we were living in Enumclaw, Washington which is about a hour SE of Seattle).
The doctors there told me to seek the help of a psychologist. Nice! I was a head case. Eventually I saw a doctor that set up an appointment to get an MRI on my head. He was so concerned that he pulled a lot of strings to get the appointment that day!
That led to several months and a couple of years in different doctors offices. We heard everything from the I need to see a really good counselor, Lou Gehrig's disease, chronic fatigue, possible MS, probable MS, nothing at all, and finally a formal diagnosis in April 2005.
During the first two years I was really sick. Nickie helped to dress me, helped me walk, there were days that I laid around and couldn't do anything. These were very lonely days for Nickie. I would go for days that my cognitive skills were rather lacking-that is to say that I was not capable of thinking much less talking. These were the dark days and we are very thankful that those two years are over.
If you have any specific questions concerning the symptoms of MS visit the official MS association website. Next week I will let you know how living with MS has affected my career path and working in general.