Light In the Dark World of MS
Hey MS.net family!
My name is Drew and I live in the beautiful state of Maine. I served our great country in the Air Force, and deployed overseas to Afganistan. I was diagnosed with MS in 2015 at the age of 26. Currently I'm still working full time, as a telephone lineman. When I noticed my first MS symptoms, it was on a hot summer day. I was climbing a utility pole for work, when I finished what I was doing and climbed down, I had noticed that my feet went numb. No big deal I thought, I don't ever drink enough water and it's hot out I'm probably just dehydrated. Well... 4 months and other body parts going numb later, I stopped being a man as my wife would put it and went to a doctor.(You all know how it is, guys never listen when they have issues health wise and don't ever go to the doctors.) I guess listening to my wife isn't such a bad idea, because after months of testing, I was finally sat down with my neurologist being told I am being diagnosed with RRMS.
Not sure how educated you all were on multiple sclerosis when you got diagnosed or had a loved one diagnosed, but the most I knew about MS was that Montel Williams and Jack Osborne both had it. I thought it was more of your body attacking muscles. Little did I know that MS actually hates our bodies more then I thought and decided to attack our nervous system. (Btw side note both of those gentleman are really doing a great thing for the MS community and educating the public about this disease) so here I am two years later, and experienced another relapse recently.
I have two beautiful daughters, a 4 year old and our new addition who is now 8 months. I titled this "light in the dark world of MS" because I think we could use some encouragement as an MS community and see some of the brighter sides of life as a whole. As much as I would love to sit and write out a list of all my issues that I have, I'll save it and focus on what helps me get up every morning and push to the end of the day. Because if you focus down the path of life and look to far into the future, it can be discouraging in many ways. So I focus 1 day at a time. I also would like to say I'm a man of faith, and I tell you what, especially on those bad days I lean even harder on my faith with god to get me through it.
The other thing obviously would be my 2 beautiful daughters and my wife. When I strap my work boots on in the morning, I focus not on the pain I'm having to get the boots on, but the reason I'm pushing through the pain. I realize everyone of us our in different seasons of our lives with MS, all I'm saying is, let's get a movement going in the community to lift each other and show the light rather then the dark. Let me know what brings a smile to you throughout your day. I have some serious depression as of recent relapse, so positivity is a must in my life. Let me know some the lighter sides of your life that get you through a day. whether it's a special somebody, or a certain reclineable chair that if you didn't have, would make life less enjoyable. I personally want to thank all the members on here, and this community has really been a blessing in my life. Thanks!
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