How has it changed my daily life:
When I go to bed I hope that tomorrow will be easier. I never know when I fall asleep how bad the pain will be when I wake up. Some mornings I get out of bed and feel normal, other mornings I wake up and it hurts just to sit up. I usually have 2-3 tough mornings a week and I have to will myself out of bed. For the most part I am a morning person, I love getting up early and accomplishing the daily tasks. This has changed a lot lately and Robert is now the first up in the mornings. Weekend mornings use to be my time to play with Jack and make big breakfasts. Robert now gets up early with Jack as I use this time to catch up on my fatigue from the week and sleep in a few more hours.
When I wake up I take an average of 2 pills to help get my body moving, more if I am in a lot of pain. When I go to bed at night I take a daily shot and two more pills. These pills are a constant reminder that I have MS. The pills help with my current relapsing symptoms to help minimize what ever that symptom may be. The shots are there to reduce the number of symptoms I get per year and prevent me from getting progressive MS. The shots reek havoc on my body as they leave bumps under the skin causing scar tissue. I rotate the shots every time but it still leaves the skin bumpy and tough after awhile. The shot itself is a tiny needle and really does not bother me at all. The medication I am injecting on the other hand is very painful and burns for about 30 minutes after. I get huge ugly bruises at the shot sights so I tend to do more injections on my legs and stomach so people wont wonder what happened.
I have always wanted a huge family, even when I was little I knew I wanted to be a mom. Four kids was the perfect number for me! I remember sitting in the doctors chair at 25 when the doctor said it has been confirmed you have MS. Robert was in shock and got up to hug me. I finally felt a sense of relief that all that had been going on with me had a name and treatment. My first question after I was diagnosed was can I have children! The doctor said yes and that was all that mattered. When I was pregnant I felt so much better it was like my MS went away and I was a normal pregnant lady with the normal aches and pains. It was wonderful and studies show that when MS women are pregnant their symptoms go dormant. I at first thought this was great I just need to be pregnant all the time, right! Well since they are finding more and more genetic links to MS it brings a sense of quilt that I am exposing our children to getting it. At this point we are doing all we can to make sure that Jack does not get MS. Although they don't officially know the cause their is a link with Vitamin D deficiency. Jack has been on baby vitamins since 2 months old and we make sure he takes extra vitamin D supplements as well.
Doctor appointments are also a part of my daily life as I go more often than small children. Since MS affects each person differently you see specialists in all fields. MS causes white matter, or white spots on your brain. When a white spot shows up in a new part of your brain it will affect that part of the body that the brain controls. That is why each person has different symptoms as they can not predict where the next white spot will show up. When you think you have a symptom for example a vertigo feeling you have to see a ENT doctor to rule out normal causes. Once all those tests results come back as normal, than your MS doctor puts you on medication to treat the confirmed MS symptom. It is a long process and sometimes it is not worth it.
Overall I am very lucky as my MS is a lot better than most people. I am fortunate that I am surrounded by friends and family that are always willing to help me should I need it. I am very blessed to have a husband who willing takes on the new challenges this disease brings to us. Robert the man who cant stand needles, gives me my shots, and tries to ease any pain I may be having.
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