Atypical Multiple Sclerosis

In the spring of 2005 I noticed after long walks, hikes, and other athletic pursuits my legs felt heavy and awkward.  By awkward, I mean I was unable to move them in the way I wanted.  My brain kept saying “pick up the leg, bend the knee. C’mon you’ve been climbing stairs for 36 years now!”

But, legs heard silence.  In fact, for the rest of the day after anything rigorous my whole body would not recover.  Being only 37 years old, I figured maybe I took on too much lately, can’t bounce back like an 18 year old.  The previous few years I went back to college for my teaching degree, secondary school English.  

In addition to college, I hiked several times a week.  Having a Chocolate Lab, Pirate or Moose (he answers to both) required four to five days a week of walking 3 to 5 miles each day.  I also took him on some hikes. When my son and I went to scale rocks during our hikes, we left Pirate at home learning that he preferred scaling to descending rocks.

Oh, and my son was a very active, athletic young boy.  We played basketball, football, rode bikes, hiked, tennis, soccer, etc.  You know, the typical stuff of boys do.  We had a blast.  

So you see my life was busy, fun, fulfilling.  I felt like this was it; my life was finally where I wanted it to be. I worked for 36 years toward a certain life then, BOOM!  It changed.  And it all started with a disconnect between my legs and my brain.

When I became concerned, I spoke with my husband.  He confirmed that maybe I couldn’t just bounce back anymore.  After all I was going from 5AM until 11PM.  But, I was happy, felt great, in tune with life.  In the back of both our minds something kept screaming, “THIS ISN”T RIGHT!”

We kept going though.  Things have a way of working out.