Multiple Sclerosis – The World As I See It

I Am Thankful

November 14, 2013

This week for the writers workshop I am going to write about number 4 which is something you’re thankful for this week. I chose this one because Thanksgiving is coming up in the United States. I see on Facebook that people post one thing each day that they are thankful for so I figured that I would post a few things I am thankful for.

I am thankful that I have a job and through that job I am able to have health insurance.
I am thankful for my grandparents who are letting me stay with them because I don’t make enough to pay rent and I make too much to live in the low income apartments. (Even though some people think that I am staying there because I am lazy)
I am thankful that the Multiple Sclerosis isn’t as bad as it could be and that unless I tell you I have it you can’t tell because I don’t “look sick”.
I am thankful that I learned the the majority of my family is full of shit and I can ignore what they say because it doesn’t matter.
I am thankful that my grandparents took my brother and I in when we were younger and that they raised us.
I am thankful that I only had to work 3 days this week so I get a 4 day weekend.

Those are just a few things I am thankful for today. What are you thankful for today?

If you want to be apart of the writers workshop you can click here and find out all about it!

Hi, My Name Is . . .

November 4, 2013

This was a prompt from last weeks writers workshop and I had to write about it because it was such a fun topic and there are tons of things that could complete the sentence. I think I am going to just list things that I am and then explain why on some of them.

Birth Mom-I placed my daughter for adoption when I was 20.
Blogger
Daughter
Mom to two crazy cats
Book lover
Introvert
Person who truly loves to be alone
Huge football fan-I will watch pretty much any game but I love the University of Utah & the Baltimore Ravens.
Suffer of an invisible illness-Multiple Sclerosis
College dropout
Blog Designer

Those are just the few things that came first to me. I know I could go on and on with a list but no one has time to read that.

How would you answer the sentence?

My First Pregnancy

October 29, 2013

This is another prompt for one of the writers workshop and I wanted to write about it because my first pregnancy was with my daughter who I placed for adoption when I was 20. I wanted to write this more for me than anyone else and maybe one day my daughter will read this and she will have some idea of what it was like for me being pregnant with her.

When I found out I was pregnant I was about 6 weeks pregnant and so sick. I had morning sickness so bad that I had to take an anti nausea pill almost every for most of the pregnancy. I wasn’t one of the lucky ones where the morning sickness goes away after the first trimester.

My pregnancy was also harder I believe because I knew through the whole thing what the end was going to be. I never thought I could keep her so I always knew that I would end up leaving the hospital empty handed. I tried my best not to bond with her but anyone who has been pregnant before knows that you bond with your child because you are with them 24/7 for nine months.

Towards the end of my pregnancy my back was out and I just miserable. I did end up going to the chiropractor because I wasn’t able to sit down or stand up without pain. It took a few times but he did make my back better and I saw him through the end of my pregnancy and in fact I still see him from time to time.

My pregnancy wasn’t the best out there but it was terrible either. One of the best things about the whole experience is the fact the my Multiple Sclerosis went into remission while I was pregnant so I didn’t have to worry about anything crazy going on with that but it got bad after I delivered and the hormones all dropped off. I have been thinking about being a surrogate because I truly didn’t mind being pregnant and I would love to help people have their families. I do know that I don’t think I will have anymore of my own children but like I said I would love to help out other people.

How was your first pregnancy?

If you want to be apart of the writers workshop you can click here and find out all about it!

Two Words

October 28, 2013

This was a prompt for the writers workshop or will be this coming week but I really wanted to write about it. The topic is: If you could write a note to your younger self, what would you say in just two words. If I only had two words that I could use I think I would have them say:

I would chose these words because I was always in a rush to grow up and I wish now I would have just enjoyed being a child and not worried about growing up and how I wanted to be an adult. I find it funny now as adults everyone say’s not to rush growing up and enjoying being a child but we all know that every child wants to be an adult. I know when people told me to enjoying being a child I just laughed it off because being a kid seems to suck when you are younger. I wish I would have enjoyed more of the few good years of my childhood that I had before things changed again and this next phrase is something I wish I could tell my younger self:

Because I really needed to hear these words while I was in school and recently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I still remember how hard it was to come to a realization that the MS was never going to go away and in fact it could get worse than it already is. It is a hard pill to swallow that at a such young age you have a disease that will never go away and you don’t know how it will end up affecting you.

What two words would you write to a younger you?

If you want to be apart of the writers workshop you can click here and find out all about it!

Frustrated With Multiple Sclerosis

October 9, 2013

I guess it is time that I write about what is going with me and the Multiple Sclerosis because I haven’t really done an update in a while. If you were to look at my you wouldn’t be able to tell that anything is wrong with me because everything that is going on is on the inside or at least if I don’t tell you anything is wrong then you won’t know anything is wrong.

For the last 2 or 3 months I have been exhausted to say the least. I wrote a post earlier this week about how I am not sleeping but this exhaustion is so much more than just not sleeping. It is so hard for me to explain the difference between being tired because of lack of sleep or being exhausted because of the MS. I don’t think there really is away for me to explain it other than saying I am so tired that if I could stop breathing I would because that takes more energy than I have.

I know that my lack of sleeping isn’t helping the situation any either so that gets to me as well. I just feel like I am falling apart and we have no reason as to why I am feeling this way. I had an MRI done at the end of August and when I went to get the results my scanned showed that the disease hadn’t been active in the last six months. Which should be a great thing but I felt confused and pissed off by it. I really wish the scan would have shown something so that there was some sort of reason for why I am feeling the way that I am.

After my last appointment I started on a new medication and I have taken it for a month and haven’t seen any change in how I am feeling so I don’t know if it is working or not. She did say that I could take it twice a day and I haven’t done that yet because I already take so many pills that I hate taking more but I think I am going to try to take it twice a day for a couple of weeks and see what happens.

It is so hard having something like MS because it sucks when you can’t figure out what is wrong in order to try to fix it. I have to wonder if I am going to have an MS relapse soon because this is usually how you feel before you have one or it is at least how I have always felt before one. As of now I am “stable” but I don’t think I truly am. There has to be something going on and it just isn’t showing up on the MRI. My next MRI is in February and I see my doctor again at the beginning of March so we will see what happens in the next few months.

30 THINGS ABOUT MY INVISIBLE ILLNESS YOU MAY NOT KNOW

September 18, 2013

30 Things

1. The illness I live with is: Multiple Sclerosis
2. I was diagnosed with it in the year: Either 2000 or 2001 I can’t remember what year to be exact
3. But I had symptoms since: Since I was in the 5th grade.
4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: Learning to just take everyday as it comes because I never know what the day will hold for me
5. Most people assume: That I am lazy and/or antisocial
6. The hardest part about mornings are: Falling asleep at 4:00 AM and having to get up at 6:00 AM.
7. My favorite medical TV show is: I don’t really watch any medical tv shows now that Discovery Health isn’t on the air.
8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is: My iPhone calendar
9. The hardest part about nights are: Being awake all night and/or being in pain.
10. Each day I take _10_ pills & vitamins. (No comments, please) This is only if I am not in pain. If I am in pain it can be more like 15 or so depending on what I have to take
11. Regarding alternative treatments I: I am skeptical of them but depending on what it is I may be up for trying them.
12. If I had to choose between an invisible illness or visible I would choose: Invisible
13. Regarding working and career: I work full time and I have days where I wonder why.
14. People would be surprised to know: I don’t think I am have any secrets…
15. The hardest thing to accept about my new reality has been: Having people understand
16. Something I never thought I could do with my illness that I did was: I really can’t think of anything
17. The commercials about my illness: There aren’t any that I have seen
18. Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed is: I don’t really miss anything because I have diagnosed for so long that this is my normal now.
19. It was really hard to have to give up: I haven’t really had to give up anything because I was diagnosed so young that everything is normal for me.
20. A new hobby I have taken up since my diagnosis is: Blogging and blog design
21. If I could have one day of feeling normal again I would: I would sleep
22. My illness has taught me: Not to judge a book by its cover and also patience
23. Want to know a secret? One thing people say that gets under my skin is: But you don’t look sick
24. But I love it when people: Take time to ask questions and understand.
25. My favorite motto, scripture, quote that gets me through tough times is: “You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have”
26. When someone is diagnosed I’d like to tell them: Knowledge is power
27. Something that has surprised me about living with an illness is: How many rude and selfish people are in the world
28. The nicest thing someone did for me when I wasn’t feeling well was: ????
29. I’m involved with Invisible Illness Week because: I want to raise awareness
30. The fact that you read this list makes me feel: Like you care and want to learn a little bit more about me.