Boot Camp

All the materials I have read in the last three weeks have stressed the importance of education on the disease of Multiple Sclerosis. So when all the signs point to something, you start to listen. Currently I am rapidly reading "Multiple Sclerosis - A guide for the newly diagnosed." I would say I am half way through the book in about a week's time. Having a house full of family and other's needs to attend too, I am pretty proud of the 97 pages I have tackled thus far.

Being that I started this new journey in my life with a military theme - must be the true patriot in me - I am now in the boot camp or training phase of my battle. Reading is my best defense at this point as well as changing my lifestyle a little bit. I am trying to add vegetables to every dinner and I am making my girls eat or at least try the vegetable of the night. So far so good... everyone is benefiting from the realization of Adam's and my diseases. Boy was that a weird sentence to right... The benefits of MS and Diabetes... Could there be any?? Well my friends there are a few. Granted I would have preferred to change my lifestyle under different circumstances, this is as Hebrews and my dad would say, "the race marked out for me." Yes Dad I am listening when you share your wisdom - more than you know...

Ok so back to the battle... I have learned a lot about MS and my goal is to be an MS dictionary so I am well equipped for my next doctor appt on Sept 28. I am a busy person so I need my doctor's appts to be as productive as possible so I am going in there armed with as much knowledge about the disease and my options to dealing with it as possible.

I did have a visit with the lab about a week ago... boy that was fun. They filled 11 test tubes with my O+ blood to test for Lupus, Lyme Disease and about 15 other things... I will get the results of all that at my Sept 28 appt. I did learn that I am not so good with the needles anymore. I am not sure if it is the thought of giving myself daily injections or just the fact that I had been poked so many times recently that made the process of giving so excruciating for me this time. None the less, after a rest to avoid passing out, the lab tech was able to draw from my new super vein, as I like to call it - Come on you have to find humor in all of this or it will just drive you down the wrong path... Anyway I had always had a good vein in my right arm well turns out, it was tired of sharing so after 2 viles of blood, it gave up and so the tech and I were on the hunt for the new SUPER vein... Turns out it was in my left arm and completely sideways. He told me not to tell anyone else and to save it for him when I come back - Come back!?? Yes I am sure this is the first of many visits in my future...

Ok enough with the medical talk - I have a one true positive to share since developing MS. Yeah really this is a positive. So it is looking like I will be giving myself daily injections of this drug therapy called Copaxone. I will probably give it in my stomach - bet you are wondering what the positive is, right?!? Well I can't feel my stomach so I won't be able to feel the needles! YEAH! I haven't tested my theory yet so I will keep you posted but for right now, that is the positive thing I am dwelling on being that my compatibility with needles isn't top notch these days.

Oh yes the one other positive. Being that I can't feel my stomach - for those of you that had an epidural during child birth, basically that's how I feel all the time around my mid-section... I can't feel when my pants are too tight! How cool is that?!? Ok cool might be an overstatement but still another perk of my new life.

Ok enough with the humor, back to the battle planning. My spirits are up these last few days as I am getting my arms around the disease and its cause and symptoms. The downfall is that there are no two identical cases of MS - makes for a challenging cure that's for sure - So as my doctor put it when he told me the news, "Jaime this is your MS. Not anyone else's. Don't look at the people in the waiting room who are in wheelchairs. This is you and your disease." I know that probably doesn't sound encouraging to you but to me, it was - well it was a little bit. Probably my greatest fear at this point is losing my ability to walk and see. Crazy that I am 28 years old thinking about whether or not I will always be able to do the things I have done since the first year of my life... But believe me thinking about that daily would sink me into depression for sure so I have decided to just focus on what I can control - yes me the controller - Put it in front of me and I'll find a way to control it - a strength and weakness depending on the situation. My book said that I should focus on getting fit and staying fit. Well what do ya know?!? I am planning to run the Walt Disney Marathon in January! Talk about timing and a motivator. Right now 2 miles is the farthest I can run and who knows, maybe I'll end up walking the thing but who cares, I'll have finished a marathon - no wait, I will be a 29 year old woman with a five year marriage under her belt and going strong, two beautiful daughters and a chronic incurable disease! Wow! I am even impressed with my own statement!

So as I start to put on my armor for the battle against MS, I am also training to finish one of the many races marked out for me... And who better to finish that race with than my dad... An inspiring runner and father who forced, well sort of, forced us children to run a race when we turn 30. For some reason I decided to run a year early in case I wanted more babies which now looks dismal, and here I am with a chronic disease planning to participate in what Lance Armstrong called - HARDER THAN THE TOUR DE FRANCE! YEAH BABY!

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.