Jan 21, 2010 I woke up like no other morning. I was extremely dizzy, and could barely see. As I sat up in bed I tried to adjust my eyes, but I couldn't then a sense of panic came over me. I needed to call someone, I needed help. I carefully made my way to the living room and called my husband at work. I told him that I couldn't see and that I was spinning .Half an hour late my husband got home and he brought his brother with him. Each of them took one arm and I began standing up. Out of nowhere my right leg gave out and they caught me before I fell.
Half an hour later I was sitting in the emergency room of a local hospital. I remember the nurses putting a germ mask over my face they were taking precaution thinking I possibly had meningitis. I didn't.
When I was finally called into the emergency room I recall doctors telling me to follow their finger. Seemed easy enough but I couldn't do it. I lost my peripheral vision and I couldn't, I could not roll my eyes from side to side. I started to panic and scream " what is happening to me? " After a CT scan of the brain the doctors came in and told me that there was white matter on my brain I needed to have an MRI with contrast done I was just terrified.
As the hours went on and I underwent the first of many MRI's to come my arms and legs began burning and tingling, I thought I was dying and things just kept getting worse.
That night I was finally placed in a room, by this time my vision had doubled and I was petrified. I remember about six doctors entering my room and surrounding my bed. At this time they had told me that it was very likely that I had Multiple Sclerosis. However they said in order to make the diagnosis definitive further testing needed to be done. The next morning I was given several spinal taps. (The lovely hospital I was in was careless and needed to poke me three times before finally getting my spinal fluid). The results of the spinal were pretty much negative. Normally good but that still left the doctors and I unsure of my diagnosis. During this time I was given five days worth of Solumedrol intravenous steroids. The metallic taste was awful but the fear of the unknown was even worse.
Doctors still uncertain of my condition and diagnosis mention to me all the possibilities. The first was a virus attacking the brain, the second was a condition called ADEM something that was considered to be a one time thing but was way more dangerous, the third was vasculitis and the final one was Multiple Sclerosis.
I have to be honest I was horrified at all of the things that had mentioned and I not only fearful I was very sick. They told me that I was being discharged. My family and I were in shock that they were going to release me feeling almost worse then when I was first admitted. The doctors told me that the best thing to do was to wait it out a few months!!!!! They said that I would need to take another MRI in about 6 months to confirm MS. I did as I was told and my family took me home.
Six months later near June 2010 I took the MRI and I remember the phone call from my doctor saying that I had some more new lesions and that he was calling it Multiple Sclerosis. I thought to myself now what, what is the next step. To ease my mind I sought out the medical opinions of many other neurologists and MS specialists. Just about all of them agreed that I should start taking a medication to control it before things got worse and to prevent new lesions. So after my doctor gave me the open option to pick a medication, I chose Copaxone the one with the least side effects.
A few short months later August 2010, only 7 weeks after starting Copaxone I had my second attack, another bad one. This time it affected my legs and my walking. My feet were ice cold, so cold that I cried because it wouldn't stop. I remembered standing near my hospital bed and trying to walk a few steps to the restroom nearby and I just fell back into my bed. I was so upset I couldn't stop crying. What was happening to me? Why was it happening to me?
I wondered if I should just stop my injections but doctors so that it took six to twelve months for it to reach full effect. I said to myself I was not going to let this discourage me. Six days later I left the hospital with my family and this time I left with a walker and a wheelchair. Everyday I would walk just a little with my walker because I was having bad pain and bad sensations in my legs. I was also embarrassed to use my walker. It was hard for me to get out of bed and that kept me from doing a lot of what I wanted to do. My life changed.
Three years later and still on Copaxone I am not using a walker and very rarely use the wheelchair. I walk for the most part like I use to but sometimes I stop or slow my pace.
Jan 21, 2013 will be three years that I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. It will be three that have been years like no other. I have been saddened and yet blessed. Blessed that my meds seem to be working, blessed that I have my family by my side and blessed for all the friends I have made along the way. My MS family are the ones that made me feel like I wasn't alone. People that actually knew what I was going through. So at the end of the day all we can do is have hope, courage and faith that things will get better and that one day we will have what we all want. A Cure!!! Nicole V. T
Six months later near June 2010 I took the MRI and I remember the phone call from my doctor saying that I had some more new lesions and that he was calling it Multiple Sclerosis. I thought to myself now what, what is the next step. To ease my mind I sought out the medical opinions of many other neurologists and MS specialists. Just about all of them agreed that I should start taking a medication to control it before things got worse and to prevent new lesions. So after my doctor gave me the open option to pick a medication, I chose Copaxone the one with the least side effects.
A few short months later August 2010, only 7 weeks after starting Copaxone I had my second attack, another bad one. This time it affected my legs and my walking. My feet were ice cold, so cold that I cried because it wouldn't stop. I remembered standing near my hospital bed and trying to walk a few steps to the restroom nearby and I just fell back into my bed. I was so upset I couldn't stop crying. What was happening to me? Why was it happening to me?
I wondered if I should just stop my injections but doctors so that it took six to twelve months for it to reach full effect. I said to myself I was not going to let this discourage me. Six days later I left the hospital with my family and this time I left with a walker and a wheelchair. Everyday I would walk just a little with my walker because I was having bad pain and bad sensations in my legs. I was also embarrassed to use my walker. It was hard for me to get out of bed and that kept me from doing a lot of what I wanted to do. My life changed.
Three years later and still on Copaxone I am not using a walker and very rarely use the wheelchair. I walk for the most part like I use to but sometimes I stop or slow my pace.
Jan 21, 2013 will be three years that I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. It will be three that have been years like no other. I have been saddened and yet blessed. Blessed that my meds seem to be working, blessed that I have my family by my side and blessed for all the friends I have made along the way. My MS family are the ones that made me feel like I wasn't alone. People that actually knew what I was going through. So at the end of the day all we can do is have hope, courage and faith that things will get better and that one day we will have what we all want. A Cure!!! Nicole V. T
