Here we go!

I'm going to start with a bit of a background on my current situation. Future posts will likely shed light on more details of some of the events of this year. But 2015 was off to a rough start. On January 29 I went blind in my right eye. It lasted for 32 days. It was the scariest thing I can recall ever happening to me. It is a very normal MS symptom, and most people actually find that it's the first symptom they ever have. I, however, am unique, and I didn't experience it for the first six years of my war with MS. Shortly after I went blind, my ability to walk steadily decreased until I was bedridden. I lost the function of several parts of my body at the same time. On March 21 I started having home care nurses come in to help me twice a day. In the beginning of May they started telling me that I needed to go to the hospital. Knowing that doctors have a responsibility to ensure your safety, I knew that if I went in, they wouldn't allow me to get a day pass for Kristi's grad. Besides, a hospital bracelet wouldn't match the outfit I planned to wear. I fought the nurses every day because nothing was keeping me from my baby girl's grad! The night of her grad, my niece Nikki drove my mom and I to the grad. They had to help me down the stairs. We used my wheelchair at the venue. It was so hard to swallow my pride and be seen on the most important night of her life in a chair.  But I'll do anything for both of my kids, and I'd rather be there in a chair than not be there. I was still of the mindset that the chair somehow made me less of a person. When we got home I was so tired, Nikki and Mom had to help me get out of the car and into the chair. They wheeled me to the outside stairs. I fell. I crawled up them and sat at the front door for a few minutes. I then crawled across the living room where there are 5 more steps up to the level where my bedroom is. I began to cry. There was no way I was getting up those stairs. My night nurse came and recommended we call the fire fighters. They would carry me up to bed. Again, my pride took a huge hit. I had to be carried to bed by firefighters! On the upside a couple of them were cute! :) I again refused to go to the hospital because I did not want Kristi to come home from her grad party to find me at the hospital. I thought that was a bad memory to have! So I laid in bed. She came home Saturday morning and hugged me and ran down to bed, where she slept away most of the day. In the evening I asked her to come to my room. I told her I wanted to spend the evening with her and in the morning we'd call an ambulance to take me to the hospital. On May 17 I was admitted to the hospital, where I stayed for 88 days, until August 12. When I came home the twice a day visits resumed. Then I began outpatient therapy. Then on Oct 22 I had a minor surgery to help with one of my symptoms. Then the nurses started to come only in the morning. Now they only come 2 - 3 times a week to check on my surgical wound. Soon they will only come once every 8 weeks. 
I know I glossed over a lot and focused mostly on Kristi's grad, but that just leaves more to write next time! I am always open to talk about my disease, the treatments and any questions you have! And just so you know...I will not write solely about how the disease affects me so stay tuned for lots of interesting topics! :)