The Beginning of My MS Story

Sometime in 2000, I woke up and found that I could not stand. I was alarmed, to say the least. Adam, my then boyfriend and future husband, took me to the emergency room where I was barely examined and prescribed Vicodin. Which I took because what 22-year-old would say no to Vicodin? I didn’t feel satisfied with this evaluation but doctors knew what they were doing, didn’t they? Adam bought me the generic old person cane from Walgreens and I was slowly able to walk again. Over the years, I would experience weakness, pain, and numbness in my extremities. Somehow, I ended up seeing a rheumatologist. Over the next 10+ years, I listened to my various rheumatologists and took what they prescribed. 

In late 2010, I broke my ankle quite hideously. I ended up with a plate and 10 screws holding it together. I started to see a physical therapist that got me walking again. In 2011, my husband finished graduate school at UC Berkeley. His mother and my family were here in the San Francisco Bay area to celebrate. One day, while we were walking to dinner, my sister, Diane, noted that if she hadn’t known that I had broken my right ankle she would have thought there was something wrong with my left leg. Later, I relayed this to my PT. He watched me walk and said, “Curious. Very curious. This may be neurological. Have you had an MRI?” I got an MRI of my lower back. After it was examined, it was determined that a disc was pressing on a cluster of nerves or something. I was referred to another doctor who would give me an epidural. During this time, I hoped that it was just a spine issue. I saw this doctor and he examined me quite abruptly, took a look at my MRI, and said, “I don’t think you need a shot. I think it is MS and you should see a neurologist.” I started to cry and he left the room. He didn’t have the best bedside manner but I respected him because he could have easily given me the epidural  and been done with it. But he took the time to diagnose the problem instead of just getting rid of me. He gave me the names of two neurologists and sent me on my way. Before this I had spent years suffering, never really knowing what was wrong with me. I knew it wasn’t necessarily rheumatological but I didn’t know where else to turn. I am forever grateful to the PT who found me curious and to the spinal surgeon who took the time to examine me outside his particular realm of expertise.

I knew I had a scary and long road ahead of me now that I was diagnosed with MS but there was calm in finally knowing.