Lindsay Stearns: Just Breathe in Life

Lindsay Stearns
Everett, Washington

 My symptoms started out sneakily and I’m not sure I would have noticed anything was different if I hadn’t leaned over the cold bathroom sink after a shower and discovered that half my stomach felt the cold porcelain, and the other half felt warm porcelain. 

That’s odd, I thought… then realized there was no touch sensation either.  It felt numb or like touching your skin through your clothing.  Not only that, but it spread around my side to my back, and from there, I was able to ascertain the full spread was the left half of my torso. 

My Family Doctor put in for an MRI of my brain, and it was then that the term Multiple Sclerosis started getting tossed around.  That was August 2010, and it is just now, in January 2012 that the full implication of what that means is just now entering my consciousness.  With two young kids to care for, my future is very important to me and to them.

I have made the decision to go on medication, in the hopes that the evidence that points to it slowing the progression holds true in my case.  With my husband on active duty and currently deployed, looking at the potential side effects of each drug narrowed my choices down to one. I have my fingers crossed that it will work for me.

While I wait and see, I will follow some advice a friend gave me who also has MS.  Her doctor told her, “Let me worry about the MS, you live your life.”  So, between school programs and ice skating, trips to the park and picnic lunches, I’ll just breathe in my life and continue living it.

Date posted: February 2012