MS Caregiving
As a caregiver, if you wonder when or whether your caregiving might be “too” caregiving, there’s a simple way to find out. Ask the person for whom you care if you’re doing too much.
And remember, what you’re needed for today may not be what you’re needed for tomorrow. The symptoms caused by Multiple Sclerosis vary over time. You may need to do the grocery shopping for several months in a row and then be surprised when you’re told, “I’ll do the shopping today.”
When someone asks you if you want the good news or the bad news first, which do you choose? I prefer the bad news first because then the good news sounds even better. Of course, some days you only get the bad news. Yesterday, after her neurologist conducted an EMG on her leg, she had […]
The National Multiple Sclerosis Society offers an excellent online brochure titled, “Fatigue: What You Should Know – A Guide for People with Multiple Sclerosis”. The introduction explains MS-related fatigue, the but the best part is the “causes and Treatments” section. It offers treatment options for breathing and movement problems as well as a list of […]
A friend told me yesterday he had seen my wife in a local store and “she looked good.” I agreed, “Yes, she does look good!” I embarrassed him a little so he clarified it a bit, “I mean she looks like she’s getting along well.” Of course few see her when she’s not getting along […]
I remember reading the cartoon book, “Good Grief, Charlie Brown”, when I was a child. The phrase, “good grief,” grabbed my attention. What did it mean? I knew grief was what one experienced when someone died. At the time I didn’t imagine that could be good. One lives long enough and learns that grief really […]
Getting the diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis took too long from the time my wife first talked to her primary care physician about the intense headaches and shaking hands until the second neurologist completed his testing and gave us the diagnosis. The medical tests were frustrating, the feedback came too slowly, and living in a small […]
Continue reading about Multiple Sclerosis is Not Brain Cancer
It’s Sunday! The New Testament is full of examples of the Apostle Paul’s physical ailments. I remember hearing of his “thorn in the flesh” when I was a child. There wasn’t much for a first grader to do in south Texas in the 60’s. I liked to break the prickles off my mom’s roses and […]
Continue reading about Was Paul’s “Thorn in the Flesh” Multiple Sclerosis?
I was working in a closet filled with network hardware and cables when my cell phone vibrated on my hip. I answered and heard my 8 year old daughter say, “Daddy, Mommy fell and is bleeding on her head.” “Is she okay? How bad is she bleeding, Sweetie?” I ran to the stairs. “Sissy is […]
Six New Dawn roses cover a pergola I built for my wife a few years before her MS diagnosis. If I had known then what we know now, I would have built it much closer to the house. My wife loves roses and living out of town as we do, we have a yard large […]