The Roller Coaster that is MS
When I began this blog, I wasn’t sure at first what aspect of the disease I wanted to address. Did I want to confine my posts to writing about the physical difficulties of having a chronic disease? Or, did I want to entertain/intrigue the reader (hopefully, there will be readers and hopefully they will be entertained) with my "roller coaster ride" that is called Multiple Sclerosis. I thought for about a FRACTION OF ONE SECOND and decided on the latter since the stories to tell are oh so much more interesting as one might expect. Anyone who knows someone that has been diagnosed with MS most likely knows the general symptoms that accompany this disease. If not, you can check out this website to read about them. National MS Society : Symptoms of MS: Information and Management As I look over this list, I am a bit stunned by just how many of the symptoms I exhibit. This blog will address all these symptoms and how they have affected, and continue to affect my husband, children and extended family.
What a roller coaster ride it has been, which makes me think of the movie Parenthood with Steve Martin. The movie shows us just how crazy life can be. Towards the end of the movie, Steve’s character is suffering from an anxiety attack prior to attending a school event for one of his children. He has recently learned that his wife is pregnant again and he doesn’t know how they will handle the stress of another child. His grandmother (I just loved her) tells him a story. In her faltering voice, she tells him how when she was a little girl, she loved to go on the roller coasters. She said she loved how they went “up and down, up and down”. She goes on to say "how frightened, how exhilarated ” it made her feel. She finally shrugs her shoulder, saying, “some girls went on the merry-go-round but what fun was that? It just goes round and round” She was trying to tell him that it’s the ups and downs, the unexpected highs and lows that make life so interesting. For me, the jury is still out on that particular sentiment, but I will defer to the wisdom of the elderly and just carry on……….keeping my fingers crossed and my eyes scanning the "park" for the merry-go-round.
What a roller coaster ride it has been, which makes me think of the movie Parenthood with Steve Martin. The movie shows us just how crazy life can be. Towards the end of the movie, Steve’s character is suffering from an anxiety attack prior to attending a school event for one of his children. He has recently learned that his wife is pregnant again and he doesn’t know how they will handle the stress of another child. His grandmother (I just loved her) tells him a story. In her faltering voice, she tells him how when she was a little girl, she loved to go on the roller coasters. She said she loved how they went “up and down, up and down”. She goes on to say "how frightened, how exhilarated ” it made her feel. She finally shrugs her shoulder, saying, “some girls went on the merry-go-round but what fun was that? It just goes round and round” She was trying to tell him that it’s the ups and downs, the unexpected highs and lows that make life so interesting. For me, the jury is still out on that particular sentiment, but I will defer to the wisdom of the elderly and just carry on……….keeping my fingers crossed and my eyes scanning the "park" for the merry-go-round.
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