Newly Diagnosed

The appointment with the neurologist at the Cleveland Clinic went well, as well as a diagnosis of MS can go that is. The doctor I met with was Dr. Lael Stone and I liked her immediately. She, herself armed with no Physician Assistant or RN, came and greeted me in the lobby. She sat with me over 1.5 hours and answered all my resounding questions with such grace and comfort I would not have believed she was a doctor. I have NEVER and I mean NEVER had such a great feeling from a doctor. Talk about looking at a patient as whole; she even got me a tissue when I got a little teary eyed over all of my "fears" of this dx. I left knowing that everything I was feeling was normal, I am not an emotional rollercoaster, just another person taken a back from something.

There was a lot of good news. First, she thinks I have the less aggresive form of MS called Relapsing-Remitting. Which means I will have bouts of MS signs & symptoms with periods of nothing. The good news is that I can start to work out again. She wants me to continue the things that I love, just with a little more care and attention to my body. I am only allowed to start walking for this week, but she said I could start running (slowly) after a good week of brisk walks. My limitations are few as of now, but I must listen to my body, work on my diet, start taking more supplements, and managing stress.

Phew, a lot to think about. I have already cut out all alcohol, since I had not been feeling well I figured that was an easy one. I have been drinking a lot of water and I have been more careful with my diet choices. After the holidays I will look into pinpointing certain foods that could trigger MS exacerbations (as they call it). If you had asked me two months ago if I could think of giving up beer, cheese, and possibly bread, I would have called you crazy. It is amazing that when you really have to look at your health, these things seem like an easy change.

After my appointment, Dr. Stone handed me a plethra of reading materials. I also ordered 3 books from Amazon.com that arrived today. I am sure that these will keep me pondering about things for the upcoming months. I was never one to not research things to their fullest.

Anyway, the day ended with some of my favorite CTC Akron peeps for a good dinner at Crave. Thanks Kim and Erin for the much needed fun.

Patience

I have made it through a week, next Monday I find out about my MRI results. I have been through all types of emotions this week; everything from happy, anxiety, exhaustion, fear, and anger. I don't always think about the worst "what if", quite contrary, most of the time I am happy and laughing. I think it hits me most when I am reminded about the possibilities of a disease that could take away some of my most treasured things; running and backpacking. The feeling is overwhelming when I think, "I am 28 years of age and my "prime" of life might have already passed."

Anyway, more news will come in a few days. For anyone who is interested this is what I am seeing through my left eye. Like someone has smeared a thick coat of Vaseline on my glasses.

Testing is Done...for the meantime

Although I was nervous, the MRI went well on Friday. I was lucky that they had CDs and headphones while going through the test. The test took a little over 50 min-25 minutes regular and 25 minutes injected with a dye. I am feeling a lot better this weekend, although my eyesight is still gone, most of the pain has left my eye. I will take the small wins right now.

I just have to be patient during the waiting game. 8 days until I know anything.

MRIs and Lost Vision

Have not written here for a long time, but I have been needing to journal. Things are topsy turvy in my life right now and I am very fearful of what is going to come. I feel that anything could happen.

To give the basics about two weeks ago I began feeling like I was getting a headache, over a few days the headache became unbearable. I was dizzy, nauseous, and my head felt like someone was beating me with a hammer. After about 4 days of continuous pain I went to my Dr.

He right away thought it was a migraine (which I had once after my wisdom teeth were pulled and it felt different) and I thought maybe he was right. I agreed on trying the medicine that he gave me and over the course of two days the headache went away. I still had this sever pressure behind my eye, but I was hoping that it would go away in a day or two.

In two days time I began to lose eyesight in my left eye. After googling a lot of "possible" diseases, I thought it would be better for me to visit an ophthalmologist and get an actual Dr.'s opinion. After a long appointment, my doc stated she thought that the cause was my optic nerve, something called Optic Neuritis. She also knew that I was going to google it, so she stated that I would find out that it could be a sign of Multiple Sclerosis.

I thanked her for the information but in my mind I was like, "WTF!!!!! Are f-ing serious?"

Of course I knew what it was, I have a best friend whose mom has been dealing with it, P's cousin has had it since he was 15, and I studied physiology in my undergrad, the implications of this were overwhelming to me.


My ophthalmologist wanted me to get a second opinion from another ophthalmologist who specializes in the optic nerve. This past Monday was that appointment, after the exact same tests at the last Dr (you think that they could share information) it was reconfirmed that I indeed did have Optic Neuritis and that I had lost a significant portion of my eyesight.

He also gave me the Multiple Sclerosis spiel (stating that 50% of Optic Neuritis sufferers have MS) and asked me to get an MRI. I am due for a full MRI of my brain and spinal chord tomorrow.

What am I feeling right now? Well, afraid, mad, unsure, scared, emotional, tired, and just sad. I am not allowed to work out, because a rise in body temperature can aggravate the optic nerve. Usually if I am having a bad day, week, month I turn to running. Not only am I feeling all of these things but my favorite stress reliever has been taken away.

It will be over a week before I find out the results, I am hoping for the best, expecting the worst, and trying to be strong in the ensuing weeks. Life is funny at handing things to you when you least expect it...scary.