Life and Challenges with MS

Living with Multiple Sclerosis is every day, month and year. When I was told that I had M.S. in 2007, I thought the world was going to crumble down on me. What was I going to tell my kids? They were already going through the loss of their mother due to cancer in 2006. The one thing I knew I had to do, that my life had to go on.

This might sound like a broken record

As I tell you about you about my M.S., it will probably sound like a broken record, but here it goes. When I was told I had M.S., they started right away. First was lovely intramuscular injections in my legs once a week rotating leg to leg. The medication was AVONEX. As life went on and doing injections, it was going good, until about 3 years into using this medication, my body started to go back like when I was first diagnosed with M.S. with relapses, exacerbations, and the lovely flare ups. Then my neurologists started me on a new medication called Tysabri, where I would go to the infusion center to be treated.

How MS flares impacted me

As days go on, I continued working in the field I love which is Physical Therapy Assistant in a hospital. While working, I would have an M.S. flare-up and get treated. When that was happening, I started to feel soar, and later found out, I had an infection in my colon and needed surgery. After recovering from that, the same day, I developed sepsis and went back into surgery to fix that. I thought what a challenge, recover from surgery and have M.S. I was thinking about what would happen to me. Well, I spoke too soon. Two years later, I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.

I asked myself what did I do to deserve this?

I thought, 'what did I do to deserve this?' Once I was able to get stable with all illnesses coming at me, I wondered why I haven't yet died. My faith has gotten strong and knowing I had to be here for my kids and make sure things go their way in life. That's why I haven't died. As said before like a broken record, being stable for a couple of years, I was told by my kids, Dad, you're too young to live alone, so I started dating again. It didn't last long once I would tell my date that I had M.S.

I found a love that changed everything

I never heard from again until one spring year, I found a beautiful woman to be in my life. She was very interested in my illness, and after that it, became talking into way hours of the night, to going out on dates, to where we were married. Since then she has always been by my side through this chronic life illness. In our first year of marriage, I developed a hernia and was rushed to the hospital, where they had opened me like a fish. I still wonder why am I still here. My kids are grown, and I think the man above has a lot of trials and challenges for me. When I worked in the hospital, I had a therapist I worked with.

What I want people to take away from this

If I was a cat and had nine lives, I have would probably closed to using them up, but he did say "Mike you are a warrior in what you have gone through that." I did feel like a warrior with all these challenges I have gone through. But, I still keep pressing on. I feel things are getting stable. I had another item on lovely plate of life with M.S., I had a heart attack starting New Year 2021, with Covid issue's getting controlled. With all the illnesses I have had to deal with, I hope I can inspire someone or tell some people with challenges with Multiple Sclerosis, you yourself are a WARRIOR. For myself, I'm grateful being able to wake-up, see my beautiful wife that gives me support, when I any issues to my health, and most of all have a strong faith in yourself.