I wrote on a "shout out" to me post started by Quix, explaining some of where I've been and what's been going on and where I'm headed. I'm cutting and pasting this in to post since I got a note from shell 4 hours ago asking where I've been. Gosh, things move so quickly on this forum, I should have known that I should write a separate thread!
I've cut and pasted what I wrote earlier today so that I can say hello to everyone and let you know I'll be here to see everyone more often. Gosh, a week from today will be a year to the day since I was officially diagnosed with MS. I couldn't have come this far on my journey with out the wonderful people here on this forum.
by Fluffysmom , 9 hours ago
To: All you wonderful people
Hi! Thanks for coming looking for me; I've been down, but not totally out, and I'm coming back up.
I didn't mean to cheat on y'all; I just had such a limited amount of energy that the posting I did on the cat forum used it all up. The cats have helped with my healing, and the cat forum people helped me (you all did too, thank you) through Fluffy's cancer and death.
I was a bit crazy to join the research study while going through the loss of my 16 year old fuzzy buddy, my little boy since the day he was born. I didn't know how to separate my grief from the side effects of the medication, and suffered a great deal. For months!
Finally I had such horrible stomach issues that after a month of them, I told my neurologist that I couldn't put up with it any more, even with increasing stomach meds and adjusting my already good eating habits.
He had me decrease my study med by half, and within a few days not only was my stomach improving, but my mood, my lassitude, inability to get thigs accomplished or think straight also began to improve.
I visited the Cat Adoption Team shelter and inquired about volunteering, spent time with cats, and left the place grinning!
After one more attempt at trying the study dose of the med, I knew within two days that it was the culprit, and formally withdrew from the study.
I'm now a volunteer at the shelter, starting with one day a week. I'm proud of my new volunteer ID; think I"ll post a picture of it! I'm going to make a nice beaded lanyard for it; get the creative side of me working again, too!
I was going to go to a MS support group today, one that I haven't been the happiest with. I checked my e-mail this morning, found the note from Ess, a message from Quix, and decided to check in with the forum instead of going to that group.
I'll locate another MS support group to visit. I'm looking for a therapist that takes my insurance and is familiar with MS, could work well with my neuro, and is comfortable with my personal issues; not the easiest thing to do!
Ah, it's good to be back. I'm looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones. Now that my brain feels like its functioning again, it will be good to refresh my memory of all that I've learned here and learn more from all that you share.
Life is good, even when sometimes hard.
Hugs,
Kathy