• MS,  Multiple Sclerosis

    Single life?

    "However, I am not MS and MS is not me. It may reside inside my brain but that is where the relationship ends. I accept it is there, but it will not make me long for a relationship just to be in a relationship, or to have someone present to care for me day in, day out. Quite independent, indeed."

  • Advocacy,  Lifestyle,  MS,  Multiple Sclerosis

    Being active

    Last week I received an invitation to take part in the 2013 National Meeting Day panel discussion on September 28th by the MS Society of Ireland. Needlessly, I accepted straight away as ‘Being Active and Interactive’ is something that lies close to my heart. If you’ve been part of my blogging community for a while, you already know my online involvement in regards to writing about life with multiple sclerosis as an unwelcome passenger. Because of this, adding something worthwhile to a panel discussion about how staying active and being part of an online community can lead to a very fulfilling pastime – no matter how dull or uninviting it sounds – is something I absolutely want to be part of. As a child and teen, being involved and fighting…

  • Beauty and fashion,  Lifestyle,  MS,  Multiple Sclerosis

    Every leaf speaks bliss to me

    As the days grow shorter and temperatures colder, it is time to welcome autumn, and indeed, what should be a small new lease of life. There is nothing more comforting and relaxing than seeing daylight fade early in the evening. Darkness captures me, telling me that time has come to cuddle up on the couch, book in hand, comfy blanket to warm my feet and a hot cup of tea to warm my hands. Candlelight shadows perform magic dances on the wall, and I slowly feel energy being restored inside my body. My Doc boots have been standing idle in a corner of my bedroom, waiting to be walked in again. My winter coat never left the clothes rail in the hallway, covered by a light canvas to keep it…

  • MS,  Multiple Sclerosis

    Debunking CCSVI, or not?

    Last night I had the bright idea to write something about the frequently talked about, always fought over treatment for CCSVI, Chronic Cerebrospinal Venous Insufficiency, named so by Dr. Paolo Zamboni in 2008. According to Zamboni, he “cured” his wife of her own MS because he found a compromised flow of blood in her neck veins, draining her central nervous system and that a cure was reached by having simple angioplasty surgery.

  • MS,  Multiple Sclerosis

    Waiting

    Neurology waiting room in hospital. People waiting, wondering, dreading, hoping. It is not fair. Nobody deserves to be here. Nobody is ever prepared to hear what the stranger in front of them has to say. A neurologist looks at your test results, gazing, thinking. Do they wonder how they will tell you that from this minute onwards, your life will be different, that you will have to change your lifestyle to suit your new, closest and most annoying illness, that your body had betrayed you? Neurological illnesses walk in and out, often their illness seems larger than what they perceive themselves to be. For the ones sitting, waiting by themselves, without someone accompanying them, time goes slow. For the ones waiting with their boyfriends, spouses, parents, time is gentler. They…

  • MS,  Multiple Sclerosis

    This is the Life, by Marie Kane

    To people living with MS, this poem is for you… This Is the Life So what if gods, fates, genetic mysteries haven’t been kind? We all have our crosses and I don’t believe in the ecumenical notion that all crosses are equal so no cosmic deal with God would allow me to place someone else here. Hell, I don’t want to be here. Lying on the bedroom floor after falling, thirty minutes pass while I straighten my spastic legs, roll over on my stomach, hunch knees and carbon fiber leg brace under my chest, use my husband’s dresser to pull myself upright, praying it doesn’t topple.  Sudden realization— practice acceptance—agree,