Not Necessarily Bad.....

but certainly not wonderful. In November of 2008 I had a little health episode that the hospital ER labeled Transient Global Amnesia, or TGA for short. I lost about 20 minutes that I absolutely can't remember. Evidently something happened during that time that was scary, as I called my daughter at work and was scared and crying. The doctors thought I might have had a stroke, but I checked out fine on all the tests, but on a subsequent MRI, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).



MS is a very confusing and complex disease. There are many different symptoms and no two people seem to experience it exactly the same. I feel that my symptoms are very mild compared to many that I read about. With hindsight being so much better than the moment we are in, I can relate this disease to a few health problems that I have had through the last twenty years or so. I could possibly have had MS for quite a long time and not been aware of it. If this is true and it continues to progress at the same speed. I should be good to go.



I had another MRI at the end of March this year that not only showed all the lesions were still present in my brain, but several were now active. The neurologist decided it was time to try one of the meds that are used in MS. The one we chose is Rebif. It is an Interferon 1a. It is described as a "family of naturally occurring proteins that are produced by eukaryotic cells in response to viral infection and other biological inducers" It does not take care of the symptoms, but is suppose to work to stop or slow the progress of the disease. This is administered in three weekly shots. OUCH!!!



Actually, the shots aren't so bad. A very nice field nurse came out and spent a lot of time with us answering our questions and showing us how to do the shots. There is an auto-injector that I have used and Nikki has just used the syringe. I started out with 8.8mcg and will work my way up to 44mcg which is the largest dose that is known to be safe.



I have two weeks down and two weeks to go on the first shipment of meds. I am suppose to get an automatic shipment. The meds are extremely expensive ($2000.00 to $3000.00 per month), but the company (Pfizer) has a plan for those with no insurance to receive them free for the first year. I am finding there are many resources of which I was never aware. MSAA (Multiple Sclorosis Assoc of America) has a program that paid for my second MRI.



I really hate being in the position that I need to use these resources as I have always been able to take care of myself, but I am certainly glad to find they are available. Sometimes our lives take a turn in a direction that we have not been prepared to take.



Mo