Angie Roberts
March 31st, 2008
I am 39 years old and am happily married with 2 children. My story begins last year when I found out I had Multiple Sclerosis (MS). My diagnosis and the series of events that I experienced were quite a whirlwind, which is finally becoming a comfortable reality.
It all began with an incredible eye ache. I suffered for about a week. Then I went to an evening engagement where I drank several glasses of wine. I recall that detail due to the fact that my head stopped pounding. I felt cured, until the next morning. Then I assumed that I was experiencing a hangover but the following day, the ache was still there. I called my doctor, who then referred me to an eye doctor. I went that day. After a “light” exam, I was asked if I new what MS was? Of course I knew due to the fact that my dad has been suffering that disease for years.
The next thing I knew I was getting MRI’S, spinal taps, and horrifying results. It was a hard pill to swallow. I wasn’t sure about taking the drugs because they would give me side effects. However, I knew I needed to go that route, because I watched as my dad did nothing to try to help his MS and its shows - he’s in his early sixties, living in a nursing home, with a loss of all functions.
I have been on Avonex for the past year. The effects of disease in my case are minimal. I wear glasses and still have periodic headaches. I have to take things much slower in life and really stop to smell the roses. My husband has been a real rock in this whole ordeal. He is the one who gives me my injections once a week. He spends hundreds of dollars every month on vitamin therapy for me, and then makes sure I take them. Many times I joke on how “I am not a cheap date.” But truly, it is a thorn I deal with daily.
Right now I just have to be thankful that I can raise my two young children without them suffering from my predicament. If this is all I suffer in life…I should consider myself lucky. And I do.
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