Atypical Multiple Sclerosis

Yesterday, I went for my ITB Therapy screening test.  Or my test dose for the Baclofen pump. Currently, I am on 110 mg daily of Baclofen, which I’m sure adds to my fatigue issues. And lately, it isn’t enough to loosen my hips and torso.  The pain from the spasticity is bad enough that I am also on Vicoden.   

My test dose was administered in the recovery room of the day surgery unit at the hospital. I was ushered into a small private room, with the help of my hubby I changed into the surgical patient uniform- the johnny. My nurse inserted an IV, drew blood, checked my oxygen levels and blood pressure.  All good.

Finally Dr. Calm (of course not his real name), the neurosurgeon, entered. Reassuringly, he numbed my back then administered the Baclofen via the lumbar puncture.  Within a few minutes the procedure was complete.  As with all LP’s I was ordered to lay flat for an hour or so.

Here is the great part.  By the end of the hour I felt some effects.  My legs bent without pushing, without pain.  But the real test was in my hips and torso.  As one doc put it, I “lost my wiggle”.  My torso is so tight I cannot reach over my head. Again, my hubby helps my dress and undress.  He, my son and a trusty grabber all help me reach into cabinets, cupboards, and even pick things up off the floor.

When I was able to get up, I was able to get up.  I was able to get off the bed without help, without pain, without having to adjust myself just so.  I shot my husband a look but he was two steps ahead with a smile.  During the next few hours I took the short walk, long one if you have trouble walking like I do, to the bathroom. This was a beautiful moment.  For the first time in two years, I felt as if I was walking, really walking.  Not just dragging the two dead cement columns attached to my waist around.  My hips moved, my wiggle wiggled.  

Hubby escorted me to the bathroom, but returned to the recovery room.  Coming out of the bathroom without forearm cructches and walking, really walking, was a feat worthy of Olympic Gold. As I turned the corner I saw the face of my husband.  The face of the man I married.  Not the face of the man I have looked into for the past three years, the one distorted with stress, worry, and fear. But the happy smiling face of the man I married fifteen years ago.  

When I got back to the room I stretched like a bear waking from hibernation, a two year hibernation. It felt GREAT!  But the best part of the day was seeing the smiling face of my husband.  I don’t worry about the future because I know that he worries enough for the both of us.  I have learned that life is what you make of it.  No one is given a life without obstacles, we all suffer.  That is the great equalizer, that is what unites us.  Whenever I look into another’s eyes, I can’t help but see suffering like mine. In this way, I have learned to take what I have because all we ever have in now, this moment, and it IS precious. 

So, now I wait for a few weeks until Dr. Calm surgically implants a Baclofen pump, ITB Therapy, into my body.