Wednesday, April 11, 2012

MS Sucks

I haven’t talked much about the wife and her medical issues.  But I feel that I need to.  For those that don’t know, she was diagnosed with MS (Multiple Sclerosis) a little under a year ago.  While it was nice to finally have a diagnosis for all her issues, it hasn’t been fun learning about MS.  The fact that lesions are covering my wife’s brain scares me.  The facts that what this disease could do to her, scares me.  The fact that we are going to have to start daily injections of meds scares me.  The fact that in the future, she might have to rely on me, scares me.  In other words, there are a lot of things about this disease that scare me.

But what doesn’t scare me, is the fact that my wife will keep fighting.  Even though she is in extreme pain, she takes care of things around here.  She gets my kids up and to school every morning and picks them up every day.  Even though it may put her down for the rest of the day.  She keeps fighting every day when she takes showers and it absolutely drains her body of all energy.  Just a shower does that to her.  She cooks for us almost every day.  But in order to do all this, it takes a toll on her.  She has to lie on the floor multiple times a day just to stretch her back.  She needs a back rub almost every night.  When she stands in the kitchen too long, she’ll all of the sudden need to sit down because of a sharp pain in her neck.  She has to use a wheelchair when we go to functions because she can’t handle sitting in the chairs provided.  Or she has to use a wheelchair if we need to go shopping because she can’t be on her feet too long.  And I haven’t even touched on the mental issues like memory loss, or the brain fog she suffers through, or the migraine’s.  Yes, she does a lot for us.  And yes, she suffers a lot for us. 

I have to pause typing this so she can lay on the floor.  Why does she need me, I have to curl my fingers so she can put my finger tips at a certain spot on her skull which helps relieve the pressure in her spine.

I also had to massage the base of her skull because it hurts.  She always hurts.  We need a cure for this beast.  And that’s where you all come in.  There’s a group of us “Team Laws” that are walking in the annual MS Walk here in town.  Cheri will walk.  It may cost her the rest of the day but she is bound and determined to make it.  What I need from you, donations.  I don’t care if you donate $1 or $500, we need it all.  So if you could find it in your hearts to donate to our team to help find a cure for MS, we would be eternally grateful.  All the donations are taken directly from the National MS Society website so you can be sure who gets your money.  It’s the only time of the year that I ask all of you for help.  Please help find a cure for this horrible disease.  Click Below.

I want to help.

We can also turn in donations if you would prefer to just give us a cash or check.  Checks can be made out to the National MS Society.  Thank you for taking the time to read all of this and thank you for your continued support.

If you can’t spare a few bucks, pass this post on.  Via Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Wherever.  The more that see it, the better the chances are that we can fund the search for a cure.  There are a few buttons below this post to share, please use them.

4 comments:

  1. Done. I had a neighbor in Chicago with MS. I never understood the disease, so thanks for letting us see a little of the trials associated with it.

    Then a year or two ago, a friend of mine - talented actress, was diagnosed with MS. She had moved home for other reasons, but is very active in trying to raise awareness and support.

    I wish there was more research being done on pain-related illnesses. Pain sucks.

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    1. Thanks Red. Your donation was very generous and greatly appreciated.

      The best way I've had MS described to me is the lesions block the brain from sending signals to other parts of the body. The shower thing mentioned above, she gets out of a nice hot shower and it literally takes an hour for her to cool down. Her body doesn't realize it's that warm so it doesn't cool itself down. That issue combined with that explanation of the disease really clicked with me.

      I hope your friend is doing well. MS is different with everybody so hopefully she's coping well with whatever symptoms she has. And pain does suck.

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  2. Hi, Jeff. I've seen your comments on Red and Vesta's sites and figured I'd stop by. My intention was to joke about us being related, but then I read this post . . .

    I am doing the MS Walk next week as well. A group of my family are doing it. My hubs has a very close friend who was diagnosed a few years ago. He is coping well and is also walking on his own team. We are walking in support, but also as something to do as a family and as a good activity. I am sorry about your wife. It always floors me to hear the effect this disease has on people and their ability to live their lives as they wish. I hope the medication helps and she is able to cope as well as possible.

    Good luck on the walk. I would contribute, but I am already getting people to contribute to my team and plan to contribute myself.

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    1. Ha! I've been reading your blog for a few weeks and never connected my last name with your blog name. Guess we know who got the brains in the family.

      Well I'm sorry this had to be the post to introduce me. I promise they're not all this grim. That's great your doing a MS walk, not great that someone you know has it. It's our 2nd year doing it, we did our first one a few months after my wife was diagnosed last year.

      Good luck with your walk as well. Hope you get some great weather and definitely good luck to hubs friend with everything.

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