Blurry Eyes

The morning after the vertigo hit, my wife woke up with a blurry eye. That is not what we wanted to hear, and we didn't know if it would go away with rest or if we were off to do another round of steroids. She has been blind in one eye fours times over the course of the disease, and that is one of the few times we use meds to help with any of the problems. She usually does a round of Solu-Medrol and her eyesight clears up. Her eyes usually start getting blurry, lose color, and then she explains it as her eyes going dim until it just goes dark. It must be really scary to go blind and not know if it will come back or not. I know that one of her eyes is still dim from one of these episodes. So, when she woke up with her eye not quite right, we both felt like we would be heading to the doctor. What we didn't know is how much the chiropractic visit would help. She had already had an appointment set that morning from the day before, and she was still a little dizzy, so we went in to see how much adjustment was needed. Her spine was way out again, so she was adjusted and within minutes of the adjustment her eye cleared right up. We had never thought about using chiropractic for her eyes before, but we have seen weirder things over the years. After her adjustment the dizziness was gone and she felt much better most of the day. I know how much it scares my wife to have problems with her eyes, and I could see the relief on her face after she knew that her eyes were OK.

Another one of those days

Today has been another MS day. My wife woke up sick this morning and has been having vertigo symptoms on and off all day long. She has had vertigo before, and it usually seems to hit on the wrong day at the wrong time. She has been trying to sleep it off all day, and will probably sleep straight for 20 + hours. I know that this frustrates her more than anything. She had so many things planned for today, and on top of being sick, she now feels behind even further than she already was. We both feel like this is just a stomach bug going around, but her Multiple Sclerosis seems to make these things bigger than they should be. Today will pass, and by tomorrow morning she may feel great again. The vertigo became worse as the day went on, so we decided to try a special chiropractor we have been going to for about 5 years. The drive to the office was not enjoyable, and the walk inside wasn't much better. The people in the chiropractors office stared hard since my wife could hardly stand, much less walk. Within minutes of being adjusted I could tell from her eyes and color of her skin that the vertigo was letting up. We didn't know if it would work, but the chiro treatment was able to knock out the majority of the dizziness and within about half an hour, she was feeling a 100 times better. She slept the rest of the day and was feeling considerably better. These times are always hard, and you never know if these attacks will last a few hours, a few days or a month or more, so we were relieved when she started getting better the same day. And as I have learned in our marriage, this was just another one of those days.

My intro to MS

It was 1995, and I had been dating my future wife for a while. Our relationship to this point had been active and fun, and I would have never suspected that she had a life altering disease. Everything seemed normal. We would walk together, roller blade together and spend countless hours together without there ever being a sign of the monster known as MS, or so I thought. Yeah, she couldn't keep her balance very well, and she rested a lot. She also had a weird diet, but I never thought too much about it. She was vibrant and full of life, and I knew that I was falling in love with her. It was quite a few weeks into our relationship when she decided it was time to tell me. We had been out on a date and I was dropping her off at her apartment when she became very serious. She began to explain to me that what she was going to tell me was going to very hard for her and that many of her past relationships broke up over it. Of course I had no idea what she was about to tell me. She went on to explain that she had a disease called Multiple Sclerosis and that it affected her in a lot of different ways. She told me that she had been blind a couple of times and that parts of her body had been numb before, along with many other symptoms. She also had been home bound for about 9 months when the disease really kicked in. Apparently I had met her right after she had gotten back on her feet from this last big attack. I honestly had no idea what MS was or what it could do, and I knew that I loved her so I said what any love struck guy would say, "No problem". I'm a research fanatic, so I asked her if she had any books or websites or anything on the disease, and she seemed a little surprised. You see, she had never had a guy want to know more about the disease and have a desire to try to help. That night has changed my life and I continue to learn to this day what this horrible disease can do. We don't have all of the answers, but I think we have started to put the pieces of the puzzle together. I will be sharing what we have learned from doctors, experiences and our own research through this blog. So, eleven plus years into our marriage, we are happily married, have one daughter and two rambunctious dachsunds. Every day is still a struggle and battle, but I would have it no other way. I have read and heard about spouses that bailed out of their marriages due to MS, and I could never imagine doing that. I married my wife, not in spite of the disease, but because I loved the woman she was and is. So, this blog is a raw look at our daily lives as we struggle to be spouses, parents and productive individuals in our careers. I hope this blog will give you some hope, whether you have just been diagnosed with MS or have had the disease for many years. Enjoy!