Tonight, I finally did it. I finally just bit the bullet and stopped beating around the bush. I let it be known that I had Multiple Sclerosis to my friends on Facebook - which is scarier than it seems.
This is what I said, and I hope that I can encourage my friends to keep spreading the word and the awareness of MS. No offense, cancer peeps, but breast cancer doesn't need awareness, it needs a cure - MS truly needs awareness, or we'll NEVER find a cure!
Love all, MSloan
..
In late 2009, I started to notice something. I started to feel sick,
all the time. I started to struggle to see the tv screen, and I had
nearly constant headaches. In January 2010, I started to have daily
nausea, a symptom that debilitated me and made me constantly paranoid
that I would get sick in class. I got glasses and changed my birth
control. I changed my diet and carried pepto bismol tablets with me
everywhere I went. Nothing changed the nausea. It got so bad, I saw a
movie with my friend and I made her sit in the theatre with me for about
fifteen minutes before I felt well enough to stand up to leave. I once
had to call Steve to come rescue me from the Safeway five blocks from
our apartment because I literally could not stand up any longer, and I
abandoned my cart in the pharmacy and hustled to my car.
It was a
scary six months. But at the end of the semester, I felt better. I
had cycles like this one intermittently for the next few years, rearing
their ugly head again most noticeably in November of 2013. I had
avoided the problem, and avoided telling anyone I knew what I was
feeling, for fear that i would be told it was "all in my head," or that I
was "just stressed."
Two years ago, on February 26th of 2014, I
woke up and could not feel the left side of my body, nor could I feel my
right foot. I tried to ignore it. Later that night, I called an old
friend and texted my sister, and was told it was probably nothing, which
was the response I got from the few people I told that day. But I knew
what was wrong. I had known since that time that I call, "when I got
sick," those early months of 2010 when I couldn't ignore my symptoms any
more, and went from doctor to doctor, learning nothing, until my
symptoms went away on their own.
I knew then, and it was finally confirmed in an Emergency Room visit on February 28th, 2014. I had Multiple Sclerosis.
Since that time, I have had symptoms that have come and gone, some that
have stayed, and some that only arise when I get stressed. I have lost
vision, I have lost words, I have had dizziness and now have constant
tinnitus. I have had days when I could not get out of bed. I have had
weeks where whenever I leaned over, I had an electric shock go down my
spine, every single time. I was told my illness would subside while I
was pregnant - it has not. You can't see my illness, but it is very,
very real to me.
People always share "Save the Ta-Tas," and say
that Cancer awareness is an important cause. While I absolutely support
awareness of various cancers and illnesses, from autism to seizures to
ataxia, Multiple Sclerosis is a largely ignored disease because of its
invisible nature. You can't always tell when someone has MS. Did you
know that many of the people that you scoff at for parking in the
Handicap spaces struggle with MS, and it takes their every breath to
walk just to the door? That they might not be able to feel their feet,
or their legs, or their hips? That they might have a suffocating
squeeze around their abdomen, a symptom inappropriately called the "MS
Hug," which could bring them to their knees at any minute?
March
is Multiple Sclerosis Awareness and Education Month. I ask that you do
one thing - if you have a question about my MS, ask me. Don't make
assumptions, and don't google it. Just ask me. Because the more people
who are touched personally by this disease, the better the world will
be - because awareness brings research, it brings discussion, it WILL
bring a cure.
Wear ORANGE!
No comments:
Post a Comment