It's Official!

Today I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. While I was in Thailand, I noticed that my right leg was tingly and numb feeling. Then, my left leg ceased to function. I couldn't lift my leg on it's own, if I wanted to sit with my legs crosed or put on my pants in the morning, I would have to lift up my leg with my hands and move it. My leg wouldn't do what my brain was telling it to do. But, it didn't really bother me much because we were mainly swimming, laying on the beach and sea canoeing. On the plane home I started to get worried and in the airport I could not walk without a limp. Also, my hip would sort of spasm, especially at night. It was like electric volts were being sent from my hright hip down to my thigh. For three days I was virtually immobile, so I went to a doctor who referred me to a neurologist. The neurologist, Dr. Richard Kay, sent me to get an MRI. Because of difficulties with insurance, and my hesitation to undergo such an expensive test, I did not get the MRI until Friday March 11, a month after the symptoms began. Today I had my follow up appointment, and the Doctor said that he is 95% sure that I have MS.

He said that I have many lesions in my brain and also on my spinal cord. The portion that has the worst lesion is right around the area of my sternum. Dr. Kay wants me to have the fluid in my spinal chord tested to be absolutely sure that I have MS. He is concerned because he said there is an abcess in my brain and it could be due to an infection of some type that we would need to treat. So...I guess I will get the test done. I would have to stay 2 nights in the hospital!

So how is my leg right now? Well, it is still not perfectly healed, but at least I can walk fairly normally. I can't run at all...my leg still can't handle impact. So, how could I just go rock climbing and biking in China? I don't know exactly...I did get tired doing those things, but I managed. They are low impact though which I think is what made the difference. I still can't even run a short distance to cross the street.

I didn't mention this before to anyone because I didn't want to cause a stir if it turned out to be nothing. It is sort of a relief now to get it off my chest. I will post again when I have more information about the next test.


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