The Longest Six Months Of My Life - Part 2
Posted: Tuesday, May 17, 2011
by Jon L. Wegner
** In part one of my article I explained that I had the worst exacerbation of my 20 years with multiple sclerosis. This is part two of my article.
Because of this execerbation I couldn’t lift my feet up or move them an inch! Driving my van was out of the question. I was using my electric scooter fulltime even in my apartment in the autumn of 2010. The months of August and September had been great weatherwise! I could still get out and scoot. However, I knew that winter was coming soon with snow, ice and cold so scooting outdoors would be out of the question. What was I going to do? I'm not from North Dakota. I'm from southern Minnesota which is six hours away. I have no family up here except my son whose is only nine years old. I had no one to help me battle this exacerbation. I have one good friend in town (Rich) who would get me items at the grocercy store if I needed them. However, he's married with children so I didn't want to be asking him all the time. I ended up scooting to the convenience store down the street until third week of October 2010 when it really started getting cold outside.
During my exacerbation I really started evaluating the care I was getting from my physicians. I'd met my neurologist three years earlier during a 20 minute appointment. I’ve heard she's a busy doctor but 20 minutes in three years? In the following three years I'd meet with the doctor’s PA for my checkups. After my IV steroids didn’t work this time the PA ordered another MRI to see what was going on in my brain. I wanted to scream, "where's my neurologist?" "Does she know I'm having problems and that I've had problems for the past 3 months.” Pardon my language but I was pissed off! But like a good patient I did another MRI for the PA but I didn't hear back from him for three weeks. The mind starts wandering when you live alone. I began wondering if I was was having a stroke, a heart attack or maybe I'd developed a brain tumor. I know that sounds crazy but a woman I knew at college who was my age just died this past Christmas of a brain tumor! It can happen!
When I went in for a regularly scheduled appointment after 3 weeks the PA said my MRI showed no difference compared to my previous one. When I asked why nobody had called me to give me the results of the MRI the PA smiled sheepishly at me and said that I could have always "called them"!! I thought "what a joke" and soon left after that comment. As far as I'm concerned I'm without a neurologist right now however I feel I haven't really had one for the past three years so what's the difference? I don't blame my neurologist, the PA or the hospital in town but I think it's a good example of what has happened to our healthcare system in the USA.
When October 2010 started I was still not walking. I still wasn't moving my feet or lifting my legs up! I was feeling very frustrated, angry and to be honest pissed off! My friend Rich had seen something in the newspaper about a new clinic that was opening called the Helen Foundation Clinic. They are nationwide but were opening a clinic right here in West Fargo. The Helen Foundation helps people with autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis. The Helen Foundation uses Microdose Therapy to help eliminante the pain and symptoms associated with autoimmune diseases. They were having seminars to explain what Microdose Therapy was the first week of October. At this point I was game for anything. Long story short I went to a seminar, started using Microdose Therapy and I was walking with my walkers within a week. I was relieved to be able to use my walkers again and be upright but this exacerbation gave me an insight as to what might happen in the future. I was also able to lift my feet well enough so I could load my scooter and start driving my van again short distances. That made me very happy but I had many decisions to make for the future!
Here is an update of how things are going for me now. As I write this article on May 16, 2011 I still haven't heard from my neurologist or the PA. I also didn't go to a scheduled appointment in March 2011 and no one ever contacted me. Although the Helen Foundation helped me to get walking again last fall my walking troubles have returned but not to the extent that they were last fall. I have since found a local grocery store that will deliver my groceries for a small fee if I need them. I started working an online business called All Solutions Network" which actually paid me a good bit of money last month. It also gives me something to do during the day. As I said I'm able to load my scooter and drive my van so I can go shopping if it’s needed. When I do drive I go slower and I’m driving more defensively than ever before because of my bad legs. I also leave plenty of room in front of my van when I'm driving. The docter at HF thinks that since I've had my MS for 20+ years that maybe too much damage has already been done to my brain and nerves to reverse it which I guess I can live with?
To sum this all up the second half of 2010 was hard and long but at 53 I learned more about myself than ever before! I learned that I'm a strong person and can face just about anything, and pretty much by myself!!
Jon Wegner is a resident of West Fargo, ND. He's lived in ND for 8 years after being a lifelong Minnesotan. Jon has had diagnosed multiple sclerosis for 20 years. He writes articles about his MS for the internet. Jon has a business at http://scooterjonsasn.com Jon has a blog at http://tinyurl.com/6zo6hxv
Jon's e-mail adress is jwegner58@gmail.com if you'd like to chat about anything.
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