Me and my mate MS

My family have always been very close, I am the youngest of five. My biggest fear when writing this post I might upset somebody but it’s important I am true to myself and write things as I see them and accept the fact my brain fog might cloud the facts!   It was October 1998 that I had a bout of Optic Neuritis and then in December I had Face Drop, that was in 1998 when I was diagnosed with MS my first reaction was to tell the doctor he had got it wrong as it was my eldest sister who has MS not me. I was fortunate to have my diagnosis made quickly as that itself was enough to get me a referral to a Neurologist, shortly followed an MRI scan which revealed some pesky scars and so my diagnosis was confirmed. Some might say I was lucky that I had a confirmed diagnosis within six months but it didn’t feel like it at the time.   If I didn’t know it before I knew it then I had the most amazing family. My Mum struggled with the fact that two of her daughters had...

Earlier today I posted about my 2020, what I didn’t include was the effect it had on my mental health. After 4 months of lockdown everything was starting to reopen and I messaged the OT at the  Chilterns MS Centre and explained to her I was really struggling, admitting it was half the battle. I must admit I broke down in tears but to be honest that is not uncommon for me because add into the equation my menopause and bingo you have a wreck of a middle aged woman. Luckily the MS Centre has a fully qualified counsellor on their team, I was added to her list and soon I began the 12 week course which was held over Zoom. I thought I was going into it fully prepared but I have to say the first session proved not only emotional but mentally exhausting. I had not appreciated how intense and how thought provoking it all was going to be. I knew I had had a tough 3 years following my relapse but I wasn’t prepared for so many things to be broken down into bite size pieces and...

  On the 23 rd of March the Government (Boris Johnson) told the nation people ‘must’ stay at home and certain businesses must close. In the very beginning one person was allowed out to go food shopping and that as it. So for me that screamed panic. My husband and I live in a small block of flats and we have no garden. I decided straight away I was going to keep a diary, I wanted to keep some form of order and didn’t want my days to blur into one. My first thought was my carers and the worry that they would be going in and out of their client’s houses all day but I was soon reassured by an email I received from the Care Manager with detailed instructions of what was expected. My carers came the first morning wearing their PPE and to be fair as I write this they continue to wear PPE (personal protection equipment)            Reality started to dawn on me our only child had spent the last 3 years at Uni studying to be a Children...