Day 9 ~ Living With MS

Something You Do Everyday. This was the theme for the May Photo-a-Day challenge today. What do YOU do everyday? I could have chosen something easy. Something everyone does. Brushing my teeth. Making my bed. Folding laundry. But there is something else, something that no one sees. No one else feels. That is living everyday with MS. Multiple Sclerosis.

I first started having symptoms just before I was married. Almost 17 years ago. I felt like I was limping. Just on the right side of my body. I felt clumsy and slow. I fell down the stairs at work once. My foot slipped out from under me and slid down on my butt. Olga, My boss, and owner of Stapleton's, flipped out, but I just laughed. They were very old tiny steps and we filled so many orders in that tiny old floral shop in downtown Palo Alto, it could have happened to anyone.  I was rushing.

It wasn't until after the wedding and we had moved to Utah that it started to get worst. It seemed to move up my leg to my arm. I kept dropping my knife. I went slower to hid the limp, which didn't help me gain favor in the new floral shop I was working in. Then, just as fast as they had come, all the symptoms went away.

I didn't get diagnosed for another two years. I had started having vertigo. I felt like the world was spinning and I couldn't make it stop. That was when I got up the nerve to have the tests done. That was when I received my diagnoses. By then, it was more of a relief than a fear. I finally had an answer and I could go on. On to realize that my diagnoses didn't define me. It didn't change anything. I am strong and healthy. I am blessed.

I have gone on to have four beautiful kids. I have a very supportive husband who is also an amazing coach, gently encouraging me, even now, to get off the computer and go workout. I am active and that I believe is the key for me. It helps me de-stress.

Something I do Everyday 

Next weekend is the Walk MS in our area. We have a team, we're The Movers & Shakers. It's just me and my kids and we haven't made much money. But it's OUR Team, and we love it. We try and walk every year. We missed last year because I had just had a baby, and we had just moved to a new area, but we're back on the ball again.

I take meds. I give myself a shot everyday. That is what I do everyday. I don't LIVE with MS. I take a shot everyday. The MS just lives with me. That's not to say that I don't think about it. I thank the Lord everyday that I have my health. That I can feed my baby in the night. I can get up at six in the morning to get girls ready for school. I can see the words on the page to read to my son. I can fold that laundry, and pick up those toys, and make those beds. I DO live everyday. And I have MS.