Rewind

Apart from talking about my treatment and what I'm going to be going through for the next few weeks I thought I'd take a little rewind as to how I got here and what's happened from the questions I've had on the back of my post yesterday.
Didn't expect so much interest!

My first official episode of MS was when I had Bells Palsy back in 2014 I believe (I do have some photos of you ever fancy a laugh). The left hand side of my face was completely frozen. I went to my GP after having a complete melt down who put it down to a recent cold I'd had and it was an infection in my nervous system. I was given a high dose of steroids to take and after around 3 weeks my face went back to normal.

Prior to this I did have and have since had random episodes of weakness in my limbs which was put down to trapped nerves, a swollen muscle in my elbow amongst other things. I don't blame anyone for how long it's taken to get to this stage as MS if very hard to diagnose.
I then had nerve conduction tests, a lumbar puncture and an MRI scan which is when the professionals started making noises about possible MS. Just as I was being referred for more tests I fell pregnant which set me back about a year as I couldn't have the relevant tests while I was growing my little bundle of joy.

I have RRMS which means that I experience relapses, some lasting weeks, some months which differ in severity. Sometimes I'm alright with no symptoms at all.
I've never posted publicly about the MS as I do have a bit of a wicked sense of humour.. I recently had to use a walking aid and went in to work as I would any other normal day. No-one in work had ever seen me use an aid for walking so for those not in the know would ask "Oh Amy, what have you done?" for me to reply "I haven't done anything" was quite amusing because you could then see their puzzled faces like oh, do I ask more probing questions? Do I not say anything? Is she just messing around? It's the little things that keep me going haha.. One of the other managers, as he knows my sense of humour, did actually think I was messing around and had stolen the stick from someone else.. Hehe..
I've never kept any secrets though and I'm more than happy to talk about it if anyone is interested.

When I was eventually diagnosed last year it didn't really come as a shock but it didn't mean that I was prepared for the news. I want to say that the news came at the worst possible time because I was due to return to work from maternity leave just 2 weeks after. I was a bit anxious about this as I knew I had a lot more medical appointments to get through including making the massive life changing decision of what treatment to go for. On the other hand I thought could it have come at a better time? There's probably always something going on that would make me think that this type of news could come at a better time.
I'm glad to say that everyone inside and outside of work have been fantastic. I'd like to think that I don't let these hurdles get in my way and sometimes you just have to crack on! What's the point in sitting at home feeling sorry for myself? Although people who know me at my best may have seen a lack of productivity or maybe I wasn't 100% there all of the time I'd like to think that I was doing my very best and people who didn't know me so well didn't even notice. 

I didn't start the blog yesterday for people to feel sorry for me, sympathy is the last thing I'm looking for. I'd rather people see the positives, or the funny side, take the mick, I can cope with that! Although I can think of other people I'd rather this have happened to 😂 it has happened to the right person because I'm a "strong ass woman" according to a few of my friends!! (Thanks Tanya!)

I'm extremely happy with my life and I love my family to pieces. If anything this has brought us closer together and it's making us enjoy the now a lot more. My plan is to continue fighting, remain positive and get our baby girl to Disney while I can!

Thank you for everyone's kind words. I was definitely feeling the love yesterday ❤
I will post later today for day 2 of treatment 😊

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