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I have lots of “almosts” in my MS life

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Lucy and Linus were talking to their coach, Charlie Brown, at home plate. Kicking the dirt in disgust, Charlie Brown said, “Our team is no good. We have lost every game. There is nothing good about our team!”

“But,” protested Lucy, “Schroder almost hit a home run. And we almost won a couple of games. Once we almost made a double play. Don’t forget that you almost made it to first base before the ball, once.”

“If it’s any consolation, Charlie Brown,” interrupted Linus, “we did lead the league in almosts.”

“Almosts” are part of everyone’s life but living with multiple sclerosis our almosts are a bit different. Some almosts work to our advantage and are even celebrated.

For example, there are times when we almost slip getting out of the shower. Yeah! Or, we almost have an accident while driving our wheelchair… oops. Or, we almost choke while swallowing food, air or saliva… yikes. Or, we almost fall going up the stairs… yes, it can happen.

But sadly I have actually had every one of them happen to me and they can be really scary to deal with. It takes a lot of strength to hang in there when everything around you is going wrong and destroying your hopes and dreams.

Then there are the “might have been” occasions like when we almost walk across a parking lot without needing help but fall instead. Or other might have been occasions when we almost are healed by taking supplements and eating a special healthy diet. You know, the infamous unknown cures that heal every illness on the planet. According to those hacks we should be healed already.

Those things are like almost but not quite occurrences. According to Websters Dictionary, almost means “very near but not quite”.

So, the way I see it the “almosts” and “might have beens” are the same as it never really happened at all. I have a lot of almosts and might have beens in my life with MS but I don’t let that stop me from living life on my own terms. Not according to what other people think it should be but how I choose to live it. How about you?

The choice is yours

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When I got up this morning I saw that I had put the clothes out that I wanted to wear. I stopped for a moment and thought, why did I do that? Then I remembered I have an appointment today to get the oil changed in my van. You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve missed appointments by not setting my clothes out. But even in doing that, it’s still possible I may miss the appointment. Such is the vicious cycle of my brain trying to be normal in a chaotic world of screwed up nerves.

I have to go to the car dealer to get my oil changed because most establishments get a bit nervous knowing that there is no drivers seat for them to sit on to pull the van in to the shop so they can do the work. I know the dealer just places a bucket or a folding chair down to sit on so they can drive. They have no problems doing that. Maybe the others think the workers may get into a wreck driving the few yards needed to do the work.

My van is set up to use hand controls for a powerchair (wheelchair) driver. All the pedals still work for a normal driver if I place the real seat back in, but then I couldn’t drive myself to the appointment which makes no sense to me. I’m trying to be independent. That would be the opposite. I know I will have to pay more for the work but that’s better than not getting it done at all.

I have noticed that at times I have to compromise my choices in order to remain independent and that’s not always bad. Sometimes different choices are worth selecting. Sometime they make life better. Sometimes they are difficult to navigate. Sometimes they are worth the wait.

When was the last time you struggled with a choice? Maybe it was this morning, when you decided to hit the snooze button—again. Perhaps it was when you left your closet in a shambles after trying on seven different outfits before an outing. Maybe it was at the doctor’s office looking over different multiple sclerosis treatment options. Or maybe it was last night when you contemplated your employment choices or lack thereof.

Often, making a decision—even a seemingly simple one—can be difficult. We are all different and live unique lives, so there isn’t a “one size fits all” approach to independence. Weigh the options, look over the possibilities, and choose. Make each choice with courage, confidence, and determination to take on the journey, regardless of how difficult it might be.

I’m ready for a new year

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It’s hard to believe that a new year is here. It’s a new year, a new day, I have a fresh cup of coffee… but same ole body. Hmm, that didn’t go as planned. I guess you can’t have everything you wish for. I tried wishing for a million dollars too but that didn’t work out for me either. I still have the same bills, house payments, piles of dirty laundry, and still have multiple sclerosis to battle.

We have all come through some crazy moments and stumbled through them into another year. Maybe things didn’t go as you wanted, but you made it. Now, that’s something to celebrate along with all the fireworks, champaign bottles and shouts of Happy New Year.

I can see a lot of good in the bad. Yes, there were some not-so-good days, some terrible days, and some downright terrifying ones… but if I truly look, I can see past those times and find the good. Days that made me smile instead of cry. 2024 can be filled with those kinds of days too. Be determined to find the good in the days, weeks and months ahead… even in the pain and the struggle.

Multiple sclerosis is not an easy disease to live with, but neither is the disease of negative thinking. Choose this coming year to live each day looking for the good. Even if there is only one tiny spec of good in a day, choose to find that one spec and hold onto it. It will make your year ahead greater than you ever imagined.

Some people have asked me if I have a resolution for the new year and the only answer I have is that I plan to be a better person than the person I was yesterday. That’s my plan for every day. I make many mistakes along the way in life. Some hurt me, some hurt others, and some have no consequences other than the fact that things could have been handled better.

There are some things I have learned about life along the way. The key is the keep learning. That is the key to life. That is what makes things the most enjoyable. And that is what helps us to progress and improve.

  1. Perfection doesn’t exist, stop looking for it.
  2. It’s not your job to make everyone happy, cut your losses and go.
  3. Choose to spend your time with people who lift you up.
  4. Kindness makes you a better person. Be kind — always.
  5. Only you are the person who can change your life.
  6. Don’t sweat the small stuff. 99.9% of the stuff in life is small.
  7. Living with MS is not a competition. Really, it’s not.
  8. Don’t spend too much time in negative environments. You can drown that way.
  9. People may never understand your pain, don’t hold it against them.
  10. You never have to deal with more than one moment at a time.
  11. Getting truly organized can vastly improve anyone’s life.
  12. Revenge is for the petty and irresponsible.
  13. If anything is worth splurging on, it’s a high-quality mattress. You’ll spend a third of your life using it.
  14. Most of what children learn from their parents isn’t taught on purpose.
  15. Problems, when they arise, are rarely as painful as the experience of fearing them.
  16. Life is a solo trip, but you’ll have lots of visitors. Some of them are long-term, most aren’t.
  17. Wishing things were different is a great way to torture yourself.
  18. The ability to be happy is nothing other than the ability to come to terms with how things change.

Do you suffer from comparison-itis

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Comparison is one of the greatest diseases in this world and we are taught to do it from birth. From birth our parents start comparing us with other children. Simultaneously, our teachers and coaches compare us with other children.

This is the greatest disease because everybody is born unique, and comparison is simply not possible. Just as we are all unique and cannot be compared, it is the same with illnesses. There is NO illness worse than another. ALL illness is terrible.

When a person compares someone who has multiple sclerosis with someone that has another illness… they are speaking from a lack of understanding and through filtered lenses. No one can know what someone is experiencing unless they crawled into that person’s body to feel what they feel, and experience what they experience.

One of the worst experiences is when you share your multiple sclerosis journey with someone and they proceed to tell you how their approach to MS or some other ailment is the only way you should be living? That you need to adjust your diet and get rid of meat, diet soda, and gluten. That because you go to a doctor and take meds, you are doing it all wrong? That you wouldn’t have the struggle you are having if you would just do things their way? That if you only ________ (fill in the blank) you would feel better?

It can get extremely frustrating when someone assumes they know your body and your journey better than you do. Comparing illnesses or even progressions of the same illness between two different people never works. When someone does the comparing like that, they have fallen victim to the greatest disease in the world… comparison-itis! But take heart, there is a cure… an adjustment of the attitude works 100% of the time.

Stop comparing, stop complaining… and start loving, caring, and nurturing one another.

Driving with hand controls

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As many of you know, eight years ago I came close to giving up on ever driving again. I had trouble managing the gas and brake pedals with my numb legs and feet. One time I accidentally pressed the gas pedal when I was trying to stop. That was a scary moment. I came close to rear-ending a car going full speed. Yikes!

My occupational therapist suggested I get hand controls. She even set up an appointment for me to learn how to drive with them. It was a bit awkward at first. I had to think way too hard to do what I had already been able to do with my feet. Which lever do I use to brake? Which one for the gas? How do I steer? Can any car be set up with hand controls? Will I have to be retested for my drivers license? Will insurance help with the costs?

Too many questions… do I really want to make that big of a change?

After considering all my options, I decided to make the change. I wanted freedom to come and go without requiring help from others just to go to the store or to an appointment. I didn’t want to become a burden to those closest to me.

I had already run into disappointments waiting on people to take me to appointments and not showing up as promised. Many times I had to cancel the appointment all because I was waiting on someone else to take me.

Using hand controls to drive sounds complicated but it actually makes driving possible.  There are a range of hand controls to pick from. Different controls based on a persons specific impairment.

I was able to purchase a conversion van set up for a wheelchair driver with hand controls. It has given me the ability to go to the store, appointments and other places giving me much more independence than I thought I could ever have.

 

Do you see me?

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That’s it. I don’t think I can take any more. I have worked and worked and worked, yet, things seem to just keep going wrong. It used to not be like this, but now I’m the person they don’t see. I stare out my window into the world and I see them. So many lives oblivious to my pain, to my illness, to my struggle with multiple sclerosis. I wish to be seen, to be known and understood. I sit here in my house, alone and with my heart torn out. The sorrow is deep.

The masses see my wheelchair and so they should, but they don’t see me. I’m not invisible. I’m not broken. The loss of my mobility is crushing. It makes me long to shout out “Hey, I’m here, I’m alive, Look at me.” But all I can do is stare out the window.

I know I’ll never be the same. I know I’ll have to move on. But today it hurts too much. Today I need to just sit and stare out the window as I contemplate my life.

Today I feel numb. I feel anger. I feel sorrow. I feel confusion. I feel the loss of my active life that has been pulled into the darkness. The unpredictable waves of grief wash over me like a tidal wave. I hold onto my faith and hope for a better day tomorrow.

I know I need to let the grief happen even though it feels like I won’t survive it. How can something you can’t see hurt so badly? That’s the problem with MS. It’s not visible and it makes you feel alone.

I not only lost my mobility, I lost the joy of going places and taking part in the world around me. I lost being able to do as I please without a care in my heart to hold me back. I’ll never walk down the street to see my neighbor. I’ll never walk to the mailbox to get the mail. The loss is deep and wide like an ocean and I’m doing my best to tread water when you would expect me to swim.

It is in these times that I need to stop, take a step back, take a deep breath, and tell myself, “I’ve got this!” I need to hold my head up from my sorrow. And so I do. Now I sit on my couch and rest to recover from a time brought forth by my MS sorrow. I wish you could see me and enter the pain with me. I know I’m not the only one feeling this ache in their bones.

If we are honest for a moment… life isn’t easy. It can be really hard at times. But I want to encourage you, you can do hard things. We all walk through storms in this life: sickness, financial troubles, losing a job, losing a loved one, and more. It’s tragic and terrible, but even some of the most rewarding things in life can be hard… like running a marathon. Not to mention, even the little everyday things, like doing the dishes, having no gas in the car, running late, and spilled coffee, can be so hard and frustrating on days where everything seems to be going wrong. So how are you supposed deal with all of this?

Today I want to encourage you that the words you speak have the power to change your mindset. My mom always says “You can do hard things.” And in the midst of the hardship, remember you can do hard things and it too will pass.

Sometimes I think, what if I told myself words like, “you cannot do this, it is too scary.” Naturally, those are easier words to say but they don’t bring anything good to your life. Living with MS is hard, frustrating, scary, uncertain, chaotic, and depressing. What you are going through is hard. But you can do hard things, my friend.

I want to challenge you to be more aware of the words you are saying over yourself and others. Are they words of life or death? I want to challenge you to embrace this messy, hard life and face it head on. And just know, whether it is a moment of hardship or a season you are in, this too shall pass.

You didn’t cause multiple sclerosis in your life

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You didn’t cause multiple sclerosis in your life by the foods you choose to eat or not eat, by the supplements you choose to take or not take, by the DMTs you choose to take or not take, or even by the prayers you choose to pray or not pray. You didn’t do anything wrong or even live a bad life that brought about such terrible circumstances. That’s all just a bunch of crap… and it makes you feel like crap as well. No one deserves to be made to feel like that.

You didn’t cause it, can’t control it, and can’t cure it. It’s not your fault if other people leave you because of your illness or even because of how you are dealing with it. It’s not your fault that you are sick. Don’t even let that thought take ahold of your heart.

You are so much more than MS. It’s something you have been diagnosed with… and that’s all. It’s not your name and not who you are. Don’t forget that.

You don’t have to hide the fact that you have MS in order to make others comfortable and you don’t have to be an inspiration to others every time you share your life story. Many times you just want to scream and wish others could see just how difficult an MS life is. They never see the pain that overwhelms you, the despair that sets in at such inopportune moments, the hopelessness you feel at times, or even the tears you wipe away when no one is around.

You’re allowed to stay in bed if you can’t get up to do anything but go to the bathroom. You’re allowed to have bad days. You’re allowed to wish life was different. You’re allowed to miss the old you and all the things you used to be able to do.

But one thing you have to do after a short time of pity-party moments is remind yourself just how amazing you actually are. Take a break from life, take a deep breath and take care of you. That’s not being selfish, that’s caring and being kind. As airlines like to remind us, it’s important to put on your own oxygen mask before helping others do the same because if you run out of air, it becomes a lot harder to help anyone, including yourself. Treat yourself as a friend.

Home should be your safe place, your sanctuary. Consider filling yours with what brings you joy, whether it’s live plants, pictures of happy memories, or art you love to look at and remember to smile. It always helps.

You will get through the tough times and come out with a strength that you never realized you had. You’re getting stronger even right now. Hang in there. You got this.

A fearless warrior

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It makes me sad to think about all of the turmoil and chaos that is surrounding us in the world today. No matter where you are, you can’t seem to get away from it. It’s in front of you when you turn on the news, when you get online to try and find something worth reading, and even when you turn on the radio for a pick-me-up song. Such despair and uncertainty abounds.

I don’t have any answers for what is taking place in the world other than don’t react in fear. Fear is the worst thing you can ever hold on to. I’m not talking about fear of public speaking, escalators, or even spiders. Those are some my legitimate fears but not something that keeps me awake at night.

No, it’s deeper fears like war, famine, and even early death than will disturb any persons inner peace. I have found that I need to become fearless. Why? Because fearless people are not afraid to be afraid. They are able to take their fears as a warning sign and use them to get a better perspective of what is actually taking place around them… both the irrationally perceived problems and the real ones.

Every person experiences fear differently. You are not alone in this. Fear actually affects more people than the common cold. That’s because it’s a human experience. If I let fear rule me I would be cowering in the corner counting down time to my last breath. One thing you have to be mindful of is don’t let fear prevent you from actually living. That shouldn’t happen.

Fear reminds me that there is beauty all around in the shadows. It’s just hiding hoping to not be discovered. The beauty in the shadows is worth fighting for. No matter how bad thing can get, I will rise above the situation and be triumphant. I’m reminded that I’m a warrior regardless of what anyone else thinks. That I’m not going down with the ship. That I’m strong, mighty and capable of anything I put my mind to. And so are you. You’ve got this. Don’t lock yourself away in fear. Come out into the open, turn your face to the sun… and live. There is hope for a better day.

When it feels like everything is over, when the last bit of hope and light starts slipping away faster than you can chase it, it’s at that time you find you are able to gather enough strength to carry on. It’s that little voice you’ve been hearing in the back of your heart and mind to not quit and never give in. Listen to it. It knows more than you realize. You’ve got this. Become a fearless warrior with me.