Dogs and Multiple Sclerosis: a bond made of steel
As 2025 marks the 20th anniversary of my diagnosis, there is much to tell, feel, experience, and even hide when needed. Hopefully, there will be plenty to write about this year as the search for a new puppy begins.
MS: eloquent silence of the weird and wonderful
I became to view MS and trigeminal neuralgia as an illness so nonsensical and derogatory in nature. MS is one of the most confusing and least understood illnesses in the medical encyclopedia for the mere fact that it keeps moving the goal posts in the lives of every single person with MS.
The art of balancing multiple sclerosis and life… sort of!
Oisín in the meantime, looks at me like only puppies can. Either he sees me as an odd, MS-fatigued and pained two-legged Whippet mama, or as a modern Amelia Earhart whose flying skills need to be updated. Is it any wonder so I unconsciously seem to opt flying solo onto the floor to save physical energy?
MS and PTSD: not all in your head
Life with MS is an is an ever-changing intimate tale of loss and redemption and of love and forgiveness within your relationship with yourself. Not one day should be the same, and not one minute can go lost to idle words or feelings.
What singing taught me about life with MS
It is hard to explain the following depth of reality. One morning shortly after my diagnosis, I woke up and thought, “From now on, I will wake up sick every day, and I need to accept that I will never get better again - unless a cure is found.” That level of new normals isn’t easy. Then again, finding something black to wear while standing in front of a wardrobe filled with black clothes only, isn’t either. The same goes for the many pairs of black shoes, black rings, and necklaces.
You will survive!
To this day, 13 years post-diagnosis, I am still prone to having conscious/unconscious battles. I am past the "woe is me" period that tried to knock me sideways at first, but I still have pacing issues that lay bare any ineffectiveness I attribute to myself.
Where is my left cheek?!
Trigeminal neuralgia feels like a vicious affair, and it is still hard to know who came first, TN or MS. Being a lover of Shakespearean drama, they would tell you they arrived around the same time.
