Chugging Along

I was athletic. In construction. I was rolling along in life. Loving and enjoying it. Then little things started happening. What turned out to be MS hugs, I thought were heart attacks. What I thought was a stroke turned out to be a relapse. Physically I couldn't do the things I used to. Mentally I started forgetting things.

When I walked, my left foot started slapping. I started tripping. Pain would last months and then, poof, it was gone. My wife and I thought it was just construction catching up to me.

What was just physical symptoms turned into cognitive ones as well

And then I became a superintendent. Now the mental side jumped up. Forgetting what I said. Rambling on. Stopping in mid-sentence. Depression kicked in. I would lash out at people. Blame everyone else. I went through 4 jobs in a year.

Then my back went out. Right leg started tingling. Went to a pain management group. Got put on Lyrica. Tingling stopped but my back still was hurting badly. A back doctor looked at the x-rays and said my back looked like it should for a 45 year old in construction. Nothing serious wrong. He suggested seeing a Neurologist.

When I heard "you have MS"

I was lucky that my oldest daughter was in med school at the time and suggested I see one of her teachers. Got an MRI. He then showed my wife and me and explained that I had MS. Now I knew what the problem was, but it was a gut punch. I held the tears back. I'm too young to have a chronic disease. I have more things to do. Ain't I Superman?

Well, 10 years later, it has progressed. My limp is very noticeable. I don't wear shorts because the difference in my legs are very noticeable. The left side of my body doesn't like to cooperate. My mind goes where it wants. When I walk, I start going to the left. My wife now walks on that side to stop me.

What gets me through it all

But the one thing through it all is, I still laugh. I have good days and bad. I hate this disease but I won't let it be who I am. I talk about it and try think that there are others that have it worse then me. So buckle up buttercup.

MS is here for me but I'll keep fighting this Monster. Keep trying tonlook at the brighter side and keep chugging along.