I’ll Run Again In Heaven
I’ll Run Again In Heaven
This is the story of a ham and egger. A close friend of mine uses that term quite often and his definition of a ham and egger is someone who’s out in the real world grunting out a living. I wish I could say I’m rich and famous but I’m not. I’m just like 95% of the population out there grunting out a living with one exception. In 1991 I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. It’s hard to believe it’s been 16 years already since my diagnosis. I love to talk and when you’re reading this if it seems like I’m rambling from one topic to another I probably am. That’s one of my MS symptoms. I call it babbling or rambling. Doctors call it disinhibition.
I love to have fun and I’ve been told I have a great personality. I’m very honest and trustworthy. I would give the shirt off my back to someone that needed it. This July will my diagnosis anniversary and I’m still out there grunting! At times I get down but I don’t stay that way very long. There is so much to do in life. If you can get over the fact that you’re going to be doing those things sitting down helps you accept your disease. In my ebook I want to explain MS and some of my MS symptoms. I also want to tell you about my businesses that I’m still able to do. It’s very inexpensive to get started and although I’m going to market it to everyone I’m especially going to target it towards disabled people.
I’m now 49 and I can trace my symptoms back to at least 1980. I’ve had this disease in my body for half of my life. I remember when I was a little boy growing up in Rochester, Minnesota. A public service announcement on TV (this was the 60’s) showed people in wheelchairs with the tag line, ‘MS, the crippler of young adults’. I don’t think that tag line would work well these days in our politically correct world but back then it was OK. I myself was diagnosed at the age of 33. It’s ironic that I have the disease now and I can still remember that public service announcement 40 years ago.
When I finally went in to see a neurologist in 1991 I was unsure what the heck was wrong with me. I had eyesight problems, numbness and tingling all over my body, I was having trouble urinating, I wasn’t sleeping too well, I had a slight limp and a myriad of other problems happening to my body. What could be wrong with me I asked It had taken me a year and a half to get in to see an eye doctor and it would be another 3-6 months before I finally had the diagnosis I was looking for. Believe it or not by the time I got my diagnosis I was actually relieved that I had multiple sclerosis! I didn’t know what course it would take but at least I had a name for all my symptoms. I also knew that I didn’t have something more serious like a stroke, cancer, ALS, or any other major problem. I had been on a roller coaster ride for over two years wondering what was wrong with me but now I knew!
In the past two years my MS has taken my balance and walking. I can still walk around my apartment with the help of a walker. But in the past two months I’m finding myself leaning on walls, chairs, kitchen table and desks more and more. I ride my scooter 100% of the time outdoors. This takes some mental adjusting but it can be done. I also suffer from severe fatigue which can come on at anytime and anywhere. I now consider my fatigue as more of a problem than my walking. I will have more articles about my disease in the future.