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DOB: November 28, 1958

"Unofficially" diagnosis with MS:1978

Officially diagnosed with MS in: 1994

Birth Place: Frankfurt am Main, West Germany
Now I live in: Coeburn, Virginia

I think my first exacerbation was in a Cross Country meet when I walked up a hill “dragging” my left leg along with me in 1977 (I did finish the meet though).  The next time was in 1978, when I was in the tub (taking what I thought was a hot bath) and I did not feel any heat on my left side and I lost strength on my right side.  I poked at my muscles on my left leg and did not feel anything.  When I got out I told my parents about it.  We went to the local dispensary (in Germany) and they checked me out and then sent me to Landstuhl Hospital.

The doctors there told me I had Transverse Myelitis (TM) is a neurologic syndrome caused by inflammation of the spinal cord. TM is uncommon but not rare.  Once I was officially diagnosed, in 1994, my mother told me the doctors in Germany told her that it was TM, an acute attack of inflammatory demyelination that involves both sides of the spinal cord or possible Multiple Sclerosis.  Back then, in 1978 they went ahead and did a myelogram and a spinal tap and found out about family history.  But there was no way to tell for sure.  So I went on with my life.

In 1994 I felt the same things occurring.  I lost the feeling in the left side of my body.  An MRI was done and it showed lesions on my spine and in my brain.  That was my second exacerbation.  In May 1994 was diagnosed with relapsing remitting MS (RRMS).  There was 15 years and 8 months between my first and second exacerbation.

I started to see a FANTASTIC nurse practitioner in the Washington, D.C. area (I was living at the time).  I received solumedrol and got better.

Since 1994 I have had 17 exacerbations.  Usually coming back to where I was before the exacerbation.  I have a tingling in my hands and feet as if they were asleep.  I could deal with that and did. But this last time was my worse.  I have been diagnosed with secondary progressive MS (SPMS). I am now using a walker or a wheelchair depending on where I am going and what I am doing.  I am doing therapy and each day I get better although there are some bad days.

My brother had MS also.  He had been diagnosed with primary progressive MS (PPMS).  He passed away on May 24^th 2007, nine days after he turned 51, from complications of MS.  At the lunch before he passed away he was talking about how much more money he was going to make at the 2008 walk.  In the 2007 MS Walk he made over $10,000 for MS.  My father was on the Board of Trustees for seven years on the National Capital Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in Northern Virginia.  He wanted to find a cure for both of his boys but God called my brother.  When my mother passed away in '97 from cancer, she wanted any monetary donations to go to MS.  In her passing she was still looking out for her children.

As my mother would say, “This is what God gave you to deal with and you can deal with it”. So lets all do what my mom said and deal with it.  We can do it together.

In Honor of my loving Mother.

In Honor of my loving brother.

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