Stumbling in Flats

Carly is my guest blogger today – she experienced her first MS symptom at just 17 years old and was finally diagnosed at 26. She has a wonderfully positive outlook on life. Have a read, she’s inspiring:

My MS’s first birthday, 4/02/14 (although like the Queen, it has two).

I always thought I was a bit odd. Things would happen, but I didn’t feel confident telling people, and anyway, the ‘things’ would go away eventually.

I was 17 when I had my first bout of Optic Neuritis, and I felt confident that losing the sight in one eye for 6 weeks was worth mentioning. After several visits to my GP and the opticians, it was put down to a migraine, and as I was currently studying for my A-levels, it made sense that it could be stress induced. Well, made sense to other people, unbeknown to them I wasn’t keen on education and spent most of my time playing pool in the pub near school, or doing extra shifts at work.

Anyhow, that’s not to be recommended. It was a couple of years later I had lhermitte’s sign and transverse myelitis, but this was put down to trapped nerves. And I was cool with this, and that’s how my life went until 15 months ago, when aged 26, my body just gave up on me. A couple of nights in hospital, an MRI and an LP, and I had a provisional label.

MS. That sounded pretty serious. Like many people, when I thought of MS, I pictured wheelchairs, walking sticks, and older people. I worked 60 hours a week, rode a motorbike, travelled, drove 30,000 miles a year, and walked my dog twice a day. However a bit of time on the internet, and I soon realised what MS was, what it did, how it manifested its self, and that I most certainly had it.

When I finally saw my neurologist two months later, on 4th Feb 2013, I was ready for the diagnosis, and left the hospital feeling lighter than I had in ages. This didn’t last, I was soon back on the rollercoaster of emotions, but people were there for me; my MS Nurse, MS Society forums and help lines and I won that battle. I know I’ll never win the war, but that’s OK

My nurse came to see me today (though I think she really came to see Ollie, my dog). We got on to my emotional/physiological wellbeing, and I can honestly say I am the happiest I have ever been. I work 40ish hours a week, the motorbike is being sold (but that’s due to a whiplash injury), I travel, drive 20,000 miles a year and walk my dog twice a day.

Last year, pre big relapse I cycled from London to Brighton. I know I am lucky, I’m still very able bodied, but I’ve also got a new outlook on life. I’m grateful for what I’ve got. I have days where I simply cannot do anything, when I get tired I drag my left leg and dribble (yup, still single!), I struggle getting my words out, forget what I’m saying and often what I’m doing. My left leg is currently on fire and the often visited toilet has relocated to the top of Mount Everest.

But, I have wonderful family, a job (and employer) I love, the most handsome dog in the world, and a small, but perfectly formed group of friends, and I intend to enjoy it for what it is, and take each day as it comes. There is that saying, ‘life is too short’. For me, life as I know it is short, but it is still life, and for that I am grateful.