I saw my Neuro today. It was my monthly Prescription appointment, and the review of how the Effexor is working. So the new medicine seems to be working. We will know once I reach the full dose and have weaned off of the current med.
As far as my balance problems are concerned….you know, where I get up and am not stable…where I almost immediately start to tilt over or stumble to the side and fall, it isn’t due to any new M.S. inflammation. She said it is just due to the M.S. Basically I have transitioned to Secondary Progressive M.S. and even if I don’t experience a recognizable exacerbation this is just the way it is going to be. I will continue to accumulate damage and see weird things like this happening. New symptoms will appear and stay, and old symptoms will reappear and never disappear.
I guess this is the way it will continue to progress. I am 43, and now I have at least 1 symptom that will be with me forever. I wonder how many more symptoms will show up in the days to come…..how many symptoms will never go away. How will those symptoms affect my life? I’m still young. Will I be able to walk in 10 years? Will I still be able to take care of myself in 20 years?
My husband keeps pressing me to ‘talk about our financial future’. I can’t even imagine 10 years from now…..much less 20 or 30 years from now. I told him all he needs to know is that I have a 401 K that I have contributing to for about 15 years, and I have a mutual fund that was set up for me when my grandparents passed away. I told him I am not where I want to be “balance” wise but that I don’t intend to quit working until I just can’t function there anymore.
AND so ….I take it one day at a time….and only look 5 ish years into the future. I won’t even think about plans out further than that. I’m not even guaranteed to have that next 5 years unfold like I want it to.
Keep moving forward, stay positive, turn and walk away from those that are negative, and don’t feel bad for ‘refusing to talk about’ things before you are ready to.
The only real advice I can give is……Rescue a few Black Mouth Curs….Let them cuddle up with you…..give them lots of snuggles, back rubs, and scratches behind the ears. Allow them to lick your chin, put their wet noses in your face, and flop their 104. degree F bodies up against yours while they sleep.
The love of a pet is pure….they love without conditions……all they want is YOU. You are their WORLD. You come home and they treat you like a looooong lost friend. Nothing makes them happier than seeing you. You can’t beat that for some great MS therapy.