About a dog, vaccines, and a bit of multiple sclerosis

It feels like forever.

Correction: it has been forever.

Writing for IMSM feels like a newly discovered world feat that feels soft under my fingertips while my neurons are like bright, noisy Halloween firework displays.

But, between raising a boisterous, continuously growing whippet puppy and daily life, my wide-eyed moments all turned into sleep at an alarming rate, and when push comes to shove, Oisín, sleep and MS warnings came first. Bringing up a fur-baby is time-consuming, illuminating, and, yes indeed, draining. But here he is, Oisín Darragh D’Arcy, Whippet, subtype Velcro Extraordinaire. Does not know how to let go of me, literally does not know how to. Serious separation anxiety on both sides, which is a given. On the other hand, he is such a clown if he were to style himself, he’d stumble through the door in slapstick style, dressed in a purple, yellow, and green clown suit in bright pink dots, and with the biggest, reddest, ugliest flat shoes with a massive dot on top of them. He simply doesn’t even know what being serious is.

Enough of that now. I hope all of you are doing well. Considering we’re almost two years into a pandemic, that slightly sounds like such a contradiction because we’re all affected by it, having lost loved ones or not. COVID remains the nasty brute while erudite, illuminating people like the Anthony Faucis of this world have been warning us about for almost as long.

Willingly or not, COVID-19 is something that can clash with multiple sclerosis as MS is an immune-mediated disease, and it gets worse when you have underlying conditions like myself (chronic bronchitis and heart issues). Regardless which medicines someone’s on, no matter how good or bad they feel, they can become a target. While MS is mostly an invisible illness at first, it is not a facetious occasion, instead it is a blind, emotionless being, a unilateral decision maker, with any neurological symptom an occupational hazard.

The disgraceful fact is that -MS or not- many are not prepared to listen, and those who can change the course of pandemics use misinformation and disinformation to score political points or to garner favour with the elite.

Really?

Using people’s health? No wonder small victories are turned into dust in no time.

I feel for anyone who have lost loved ones, and I wish you didn’t have to go through such an inconsiderate, unpredictable illness that doesn’t care whether you are rich, poor, tall, small, vaccina…

Oh, vaccination status!

I get it!

If you, for medical reasons determine vaccinations are not for you, that is your business and not at all my business. We’re all entitled to our own decisions, and way of life.

My perspective is that given the deceitfulness of the coronavirus, do understand that I am entitled to my own view, without for example, being called neurotic, OTT or repetitive.

The reason I am starting my return to writing with sounding off about today’s lack of insight and empathy (feel free to call it narcissism), is this:

Two of my American friends who had MS as well as underlying conditions that caused the coronavirus to zoom in on them, passed away from, exactly, COVID-related issues. Aside from this, one of my Irish friends also passed away. Hence, I have been dealing with sometimes fiery red thoughts of the inexplicable things people have been doing instead of caring about others.

Shouldn’t an identified weakness be something that can be avoided?

Here is where my patience and understanding have been unraveling at the seams for a good while now.

The target of my ire is a quite vocal, distinctive, yet deliberately unenlightened part of humankind who are neither kind to others, nor willing to remove their children’s future from COVID’s equation. The virus is the absolute negative of being alive, and five million deaths around the world still doesn’t seem to scare them that much.

It bloody well should.

Us human beings, a not-at-all-divinely created homo sapiens breed, take our own reputation in life more seriously than necessary. I suppose we all fall prey to the fallacy of thinking that especially since we’re humans, we get to flatter ourselves on having an exceptional, advanced brain that already gave up all its grey and white matter secrets.

Sadly, not so.

Like Christopher Hitchens used to say, “We are merely half a chromosome away from chimpanzees, and it shows.”

Life has a whole lot more to offer, and personally, my bucket list is still growing despite being a hazard to myself and to others. I would have loved to know what Mr. Hitchens had to say about the current state of global pandemics as a pure antitheist (and not atheist). He would still be having exceptional philosophical debates why religion and its leaders do not have ownership of where empathy comes from as it predates the birth of Christ, Mohamed, Buddha, and so forth, especially since today’s religious leaders refuse to vaccinate, and as such, have caused some their flock to pass away.

So, if something gets me riled up for example, it’s extreme antivaxxers in the US who are so utterly disconnected from reality it is frightening to watch how low people can sink. You know the type, those who still believe Machiavellian-inspired words of a voted out of office group of Svengalis who, armed with bible in one hand, the US constitution, and the bill of rights in the other, shout extreme vitriol at governing bodies, teaching or medical professionals who are speaking truth to power and are trying to keep them upright and breathing.

It should be as transparent as a glass of water. If disinformation like injecting disinfectant in the body to get rid of COVID-19 didn’t get the medical community positively hyped, there should be a reason. The disinformation almost feels like religion being a self-fulfilling prophecy: you pretentiously want to hear what you want to hear from your pastors, so you don’t apply critical thinking as they have chewed on the hard bits for you to make it easier to swallow. But then, you also want to nitpick what applies to you and what doesn’t, possibly leaving out core aspects of the text. Or worse, you allow your whole truth to come from unproven, non-scientific methods, simply because your leaders say so because if they say it, it must be true.

This is how antivaxxers and antimasking people fall prey to higher instances of COVID-19 infection. And yes, that has been proven in the lower states of the US, where Donald J. Trump’s influence has been the largest, and where he and his sycophants continue to spread disinformation.

Back to COVID-19.

Alas, it is a non sequitur, so extreme antivaxxers lambast anyone who dares looking to the future by vaccinating their families. Do they realise that their non-vaccination certification might be handed to a loved one in the form of a death certificate instead? Their lives are lived in a cocoon of perpetual idiocy, I am just guessing here. Clue? You won’t learn any facts if the only button on your remote control is stuck on Fox News, Infowars, Joe Rogan, etc.

Again, two American friends who also had MS, passed away of COVID-19, their parents having to look from afar, not even being allowed to hold their hands. Children who they put on this earth, who they loved and raised into wonderful adults with merits and goals, even after they were diagnosed with MS.

Forgive me this one post as I am venting their rage as well as mine.

So, let me tell you what being robbed of freedom is really like, and keep in mind the two people and their still living parents I just mentioned. Add your children’s names if necessary. And then, add COVID-19 symptoms to the mix.

Being robbed of freedom is having an incurable, neurodegenerative illness, i.e. one that will affect you for the rest of your life as it slowly takes away your abilities to live life to the fullest. It is the not knowing what the end goal of such an unpredictable illness will be. Being robbed when all you’re doing is trying your best to stay in the workforce, part of your social group, part of life, period.

It’s like going to your own funeral without having a body in a casket, and you being the only one in attendance as MS is a deadbeat, lonely illness. Because there are only 2.5 million people in the world who have MS, the tagline ‘No two people have the exact same symptoms or experiences with the disease.’ means there are no two people alike with MS.

Add to this that any neurological symptom can be an MS symptom, and the number and places of brain and spinal cord lesions, you end up living a life unlike that of anyone else.

The psychological impact is that first, you will feel robbed of your sense of self, your confidence, your self-esteem because your mind is playing tricks with you, and you believe it calls you names because you feel less than human. And if you don’t blame yourself for not being the same person anymore, rest assured that others `might, either from unwillingness, selfishness or them behaving as if they just became a neurologist when their knowledge about MS is non-existing.

After living with MS for 17 years, I have been through things like “I can’t deal with your illness” to “Stop wallowing in self-pity” to “Your illness doesn’t fit into my schedule anymore” my advice is, ditch them, even if they are family members. That sounds harsh, I know, but it comes after being through depression trying to understand why family could say, or even dare to say things like this. If years after your diagnosis they continue to prove they have done zero trying to learn about MS, keep them out of your life.

The last thing you need is stress that will worsen your symptoms and believe me, it can, and it will, and by gob, people with MS go through awful incidents with family members, spouses, colleagues, friends, and acquaintances.

Antivaxxers and those who say that masks mean a first amendment infringement and keep nagging about being robbed, should also think of the underlying illnesses people have. I’ve written about being diagnosed with clostridium difficile in the past and the impact it had on my life. Let me put it in a different context.

Let’s say you are diagnosed with a serious, incurable illness that attacks your own body. Rogue immune cells target healthy tissue as if it were a harmful virus, bacteria, or cancer. In MS, the targets of this attack are the brain, the nerves along the spine, or both. The U.S. National Multiple Sclerosis Society refers to this as being immune-mediated.
A) Despite being in higher need of hospital visits whether for appointments or new symptoms/condition, I need to avoid them not solely because of my MS, but of what else an inferior immune system can create.
B) Despite never being on antibiotics, catching C. Diff caused me to have bags of intravenous antibiotics several times a day, undermining immunity even more.
C) If I were to catch COVID-19 and require urgent hospital treatment, I risk catching C. Diff again and possibly, passing away of reinfection of hospital-acquired superbugs, instead of the coronavirus.

Now, these are all ‘what ifs’, but catching C. Diff so completely out of the blue told me that my immune system is way below par, and that has been a frightening mindfuck since; being told I’m up for a reappearance at some stage, When a few years later a severe bout of chronic bronchitis landed me into hospital when intense coughing caused a partially collapsed lung, it once again established the notion that there’s little room to play with if your immunity is compromised.

But OK, that is my business, I am merely here to warn what can happen if people do not heed COVID-19 warnings.

Where is the collective consciousness in regard to COVID, so?

In slang terms, “I will do me, not you.”

People’s empathy towards shared coronavirus experiences has been waning for a year now, and in some cases, understandably so. However, it has been getting worse these past months. A lot of people now feel like “Do we really have to feel empathy for others? They made me wait 7 hours in the Emergency Room before I saw a doctor!!”

Today, parents in the US bully teachers, parents and children who wisely keep wearing face masks. Politicians, the heads of NIH, the CDC, doctors, and school board members are getting personal protection after receiving death threats. Protest marches are not about civil rights anymore, like voting rights or LGTQI rights. Instead, some march against the wearing of masks and getting a vaccine that is showing increased proof of efficacy, even if it wanes after a few months.

So, really?

Grow up. This is not about you. It’s about your kids, and their future. If that is not reason enough to want to vaccinate your loved ones, what the hell is?

Now, time to get back to writing about MS. I have an awful lot to talk about so see you soon!

2018 Winner Best Blog Post with ‘3443 Needles’, Blog Awards Ireland, Ashville Media Group, Dublin, Ireland
◾ Everyday Health: Top 10 MS Blogs to Follow in 2020
◾ Feedspot: Top 50 MS Blogs to follow in 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017
◾ MyTherapy: Multiple Sclerosis Blogs: 10 of the Best in 2019
◾ Everyday Health: Top 10 MS Blog of 2018
◾ MyTherapy: Best MS Blog for Simplicity 2018
◾ Ireland Blog Awards: Finalist 2014, 2015, 2017; Winner 2018 (Awards competition discontinued since)

© Willeke Van Eeckhoutte and Ireland, Multiple Sclerosis & Me, 2011-2021. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Willeke Van Eeckhoutte and irelandms.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

#Coronavirus #COVID19 #MS #MultipleSclerosis #Antivaxxers #Vaccinations #dogs #dogsoftwitter