{"id":2449,"date":"2015-06-30T10:23:00","date_gmt":"2015-06-30T16:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bemorewithless.com\/?p=2449"},"modified":"2022-03-15T13:05:41","modified_gmt":"2022-03-15T19:05:41","slug":"ms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bemorewithless.com\/ms\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Devastating Diagnosis Taught me How to Really Live"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"How<\/a><\/p>\n

My life changed with one phone call.<\/p>\n

I was sitting in my office cubicle trying to focus on work, but I was anxious about my recent spinal tap. I hadn’t heard anything from my doctor, which I thought was probably good news. After my MRIs a few weeks earlier, I got a phone call insisting I come in right away, which I knew\u00a0meant bad news.<\/p>\n

I finally stopped pushing paper around my desk and called the neurologist’s office to see what was going on.<\/p>\n

Let’s back up for a minute<\/h2>\n

In the Spring of 2006, I was training for the MS 150, a cycling event to raise funds for MS research. The owner of the company I worked for has Multiple Sclerosis and inspired me to raise money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. He was in a wheelchair\u00a0and I was going to ride for him.<\/p>\n

Things were crazy-busy at work and I wasn’t feeling well. After coming home from a trip to Europe, what I thought was a little jet lag turned into a lot of vertigo. I had experienced vertigo before and I figured it was just some type of ear infection. My doctor thought the same thing. As the weeks progressed, I couldn\u2019t walk a straight line let alone ride a bike.<\/p>\n

Along with vertigo came fatigue. One side of my face and my hands were tingling. None of these symptoms were brand new, but I had never had them all at once or this severe. Two months later,\u00a0I still felt like I was stumbling out of a bar whenever I stood up. I had missed the bike ride and was diagnosed with MS.<\/p>\n

My diagnosis wasn\u2019t as tidy as the paragraphs above. Instead of a few sentences, it was days and weeks of fatigue, vertigo, and uncertainty. It was MRIs with Gadolinium contrast agents delivered via IV that made me want to throw up,\u00a0eye tests, blood work, ultrasounds of my heart to rule out mini strokes, balance and neuro exams. And the cherry on top .. a blood patch to stop the debilitating headache caused by the leaking fluid in\u00a0my spinal cord after\u00a0a lumbar puncture.<\/p>\n

By the time I called for my test results, I was vulnerable, scared, sick and tired.<\/h2>\n

Me: Hi, I\u2019m calling for test results from my lumbar puncture.<\/p>\n

Them: Yes, we have them right here. You don\u2019t have MS.<\/p>\n

Me: Thank you so much!<\/p>\n

Them: I can\u2019t believe you didn\u2019t know. We got your results back last week.<\/p>\n

Me: That\u2019s not possible. My lumbar puncture was this week.<\/p>\n

Them: (big, painful pause) We’ll\u00a0call you back.<\/p>\n

After the pause.<\/em><\/p>\n

Them: Hi Courtney, Sorry about that. You do have MS.<\/p>\n

Me: What? (thinking to myself: did you just diagnosis me with MS over the phone?) What should I do now?<\/p>\n

Them: Come pick up some marketing brochures and pick a drug.<\/p>\n

Me: OK (Thinking … this is not ok. Nothing will ever be ok again.)<\/p>\n

I left the cubicle\u00a0and cried all the way home. I thought my life was over. I was afraid that MS would take over and ruin my health, my family, my work, and everything I cared about.<\/p>\n

And then, inch by inch, I changed my life. I changed what I ate, what I owned, what I owed, where I worked, and how I loved. I changed all of it. Today, 9 years later, I am practically symptom free. I haven’t had a relapse in more than 7 years and recent MRIs show no new lesions or MS progression.<\/p>\n

I moved from powerless victim to the hero of my own story. I realized I have\u00a0choices. I didn’t choose MS, but I do\u00a0choose what foods I put in my body, what treatments I take, who I spent time with, who is on my medical team, and how I view my life and the world.<\/p>\n

How a Devastating Diagnosis Taught me How to Really Live<\/h2>\n

I didn’t want MS, and I don’t wish it on anyone else, but it has been a blessing in my life.<\/p>\n