What Ails Me

Hello, dear reader!

I very nearly postponed today’s blog post.

The reason? I appear to be in the middle of an MS relapse.

Symptom Of A Down
I can’t swear to it. I mean I can say, with full confidence, that I’m having some weird and not too wonderful symptoms which seem to match up with my disease.

It started last Friday, when I noticed a tingling numbness in my right hand. As there is a need not to panic with Multiple Sclerosis, and because not everything is MS (as I’ve been told on, uh, multiple occasions), I decided to keep an eye on this over the weekend and see how things progressed.

On Monday it was still there.

Infection Control
This triggered a phone call to the MS nurse to report this thrilling development. A phone call which went just as I expected.

The first thing to do, I was told, was to rule out infection. This is something that can trigger a relapse, as my idiot immune system goes into overdrive and attacks my central nervous system, tearing the protective myelin from the surface of my brain and nerves. Therefore everything I need for blood and urine to be taken by my local doctor is currently winging its way to me through the post.

The fun doesn’t stop there, however. In the last two days, I’ve noticed other symptoms cropping up.

 
When I was first diagnosed with MS, some five or six years ago, it was my eyes that drove me into hospital (actually it was my mum and dad, but the eyes were the underlying reason). I was suffering from vision problems regarding depth perception and object displacement. In the last 24 hours or so, I’ve noticed my eyes playing up again. Nothing nearly as serious as back then, but there is a sore tiredness, as if it’s taking more effort to focus, and my right eye in particular feels a little unfocused.


As I mentioned, and as I’ve been continually reminded, not everything is MS. It is tempting to allocate every sniffle, ache, and tingle to the disease that changed my life, but it would be foolish to do so. Sometimes a sore shoulder is just a sore shoulder, especially when you’re a wheelchair user. This feels different, though.

As I sit here, on my couch, typing away, I’m aware that it is taking more effort than usual. More concentration. I’m having to really focus on the words on the screen, and I’m backtracking and deleting a lot more, as my muted right index finger (yes, I’m a key pecker) mis-strikes now and then. I’m also aware of an ache behind my right eye which wasn’t there yesterday, and a slight ache in my jaw on the same side (that last could well be imagination)

Monster Munch
So, I’ll wait for the test kits, and give of my bodily fluids to test for the infection I’m pretty certain will show up. After that? Well the first course of treatment will, no doubt, be high dose antibiotics. If this fails to clear up the symptoms, then the next stage may well be high dose steroids, which is the ultimate sanction when it comes to fighting said symptoms and, from experience, may well lead to me turning into a hunger monster, roaming the house in search of anything that looks vaguely like food.

Hopefully, this flare up can be fought quickly and completely, as other have, and I can soon carry on with something like normality. We have an appointment in London in just over a week, and it would be nice to be feeling better by then.

We’ll see.



Until next time.

***

Hey, folks! If you would care to take a look at some of my more creative writing, then the links below will transport you to the magical worlds of a few anthologies my short (and in two cases, very short) stories have been included in. Feel free to check ’em out!

New Tales Of Old: Volume 2

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09TMVTX9H/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Death Ship

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/9198684140/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_TWEMTA3KWK7T89QEZPF6?fbclid=IwAR322Fx5nfgVUQAA62ZZ6CUsNnBm8pbSxPanzz6Qkjg3vAv4ESipq7iKKhs

https://www.waterstones.com/book/death-ship/david-green/s-o-green/9789198684148?fbclid=IwAR2gP4CXHSG7wTccO39wOqXFtI81k0259Ep8DUM48Ki6kTUdlKoF3yafojA

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9198684140/ref=ewc_pr_img_1?smid=A2XZ7JICGUQ1CX&psc=1&fbclid=IwAR2Wa6sGxb82_VCsC7l1CGXwHjsSwTheqba6jDX_G8EDsywZoGpC93nXr2w

Reaperman

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reaperman-Drabbles-3-Legends-Night-ebook/dp/B099NNPTQ1A

Pestilence

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pestilence-Revelations-Black-Ink-Fiction/dp/B09MDLZGHY/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2VP38WZDWJVAF&keywords=black+ink+fiction&qid=1654090896&sprefix=black+ink+fiction%2Caps%2C218&sr=8-1

The Musketeers Vs Cthulhu

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Musketeers-Cthulhu-Court-King-Louis-ebook/dp/B09YQKQQB7/ref=sr_1_18?crid=2VP38WZDWJVAF&keywords=black+ink+fiction&qid=1654091002&sprefix=black+ink+fiction%2Caps%2C218&sr=8-18