So, here I am returning to the Neurology office with no clue what to expect.  I tried to assume away all the strange things happening to my body and it just wasn’t working.  I assumed they were in my head.  Maybe I was making them up and none of this was really happening to me?  I had been to doctors in past telling them that I just “didn’t feel right” or that I had pain in my hip, but they were never able to find anything wrong with me, so I almost expected nothing to come of this either.

The Neurologist visited with me a bit and then decided to stick a sharp object against my leg.  I could feel nothing.  Literally.  His comment was that my symptoms were highly suggestive of MS and that I need yet another MRI – thoracic & lumbar this time.  {For those not keeping count, this is the third MRI, fourth and fifth study}.

Off I went again.  Did I mention that I am highly claustrophobic?  No?  Well, you can imagine that each of these studies caused a significant amount of trepidation.  The 2nd study took a while to get scheduled my I did it under anesthesia.  I was worried enough about this one that I didn’t want to wait and was put on the schedule as soon as the hospital could work me in.

I had the MRI on 10/15.  I work in a doctor’s office so I am often able to receive results early on & this case was no different.  This one was clear – “findings most indicative of multiple sclerosis with an enhancing active demyelinating plaque.”  I immediately started to cry.  On one hand, I felt relief – someone finally knew what was wrong with me!  On the other hand, extreme panic.  I had no understanding of the details of the MRI report except that I was pretty sure there was an error in transcription.  It said I had a 6.8cm section “consistent with demyelinating plaque.”  That seemed way too long and I assumed cm should have been mm.

I received the call from the Neurologist’s office on 10/16 that I did in fact have MS and that I would need a round of 5 days of IV steroids.  I expected the call based on what I had read, so it came as no surprise.  I had already put a call into the MS Specialist’s office and requested to be put on a cancellation list for an appointment.  I started my steroids and hoped I was able to get an appointment in 2013.

Of course, nothing is simple with me.  I have temperamental veins.  After having two separate nurses look at my arms, the infusion center requested that I have a PICC line in order to receive my steroids, so I spent a day at the hospital waiting to be worked in for a PICC line, having it put in (it took two tries) and then returning to the infusion center for the main event – the steroid treatment.  Once the PICC line was in, treatment was easy.

While receiving my infusion, I received a call from the MS Specialists’ office that they had a cancellation on Monday.  I was incredibly excited that everything seemed to be happening so quickly and I was going to get the appointment that I assumed I would wait 3+ months for was just a few days away.