Diario de Egull1, 25 mar. 24

Oh no. Feel better egull. 💝🩷 

Thank you 🙏 my dear. Slowly but surely I’m getting there ❤️ 

💖Egull1, Your posts have kept a good friend's spirit from completely diminishing during some of her dark days battling MS. She will say thank you one day, hopefully typing on her own. We both wish you the best and say 'TG for our 'Tiggers' who watch over us and love us unconditionally 💖 

Feel better!🩷🩷🩷 

Awww - Livin_Breezy, let your friend know this girl's spirit is reaching out and surrounding their heart with infinite love. Let them know there will come a moment when they realize their strength, love, and courage is so immense that there is nothing in this world, including MS that can diminish their soul {{BIG HUGS}}. Grace is such a funny thing. Last night, I was in such pain from the fever and having spasms from my ribs down too my tippy toes. I couldn't stop tossing and turning. All of a sudden I feel this little furry paw slip into the palm of my hand and very gently stay there. It didn't make the pain go away, but it made me feel so thankful just be alive to have such a moment :) and, thank you Diana - this girl's already on the mend! 

Egull thats the opposite of a fun time. He looks very concerned. Im sure he is a wonderful nurse for you. Hoping you recover quickly my friend. You are such a brave brave strong girl i am sorry to see you feeling like this. 

Our animal family persons feel our challenges when sick, anxious, or angry...and probably a lot we don't even realize. Our dogs perk up their ears if I cough more than three time or even once if it's really hard. This since I had pneumonia undiagnosed till the night I could not stop long enough to catch my breath. I considered waking someone up but delayed--middle of the night. The two dogs burst into my room and sat watching me intently. Figured they were telling me something. I intercomed son but couldn't speak, just cough. ER. admit. Good dogs! If anyone is seriously ill, flu COVID, etc.,one parks himself with the patient, even if outside a closed door. Love animals!! 

Gopherit2–about 2 years ago in January i came home from a very long day of work and i had been ill for some time with a flare up of pulmonary disease. That manifests in shortness of breath and coughing fits. Treated with albuteral via nebulizer. I had been giving myself treatments periodically thruout the day but was really exhausted. Got home from work around 10:30 pm and my two furry boys were so excited to see me as always. Walked in the door and within seconds had zero air. I mean zero. I have nebulizers plugged in in family room and my bedroom as well as portable one for car but didnt have the medication next to it. I knew i had enough time to call 911 or get meds but not both. I chose meds (found out later you can text 911). My hands were shaking so hard and i was getting black dots in front of me as i got the medicine in the device. Sat there shaking while was inhaling and both my puppies (one only a year old the other only two years old) both were sitting right next to me and staring at me intently not moving a muscle. I was on second treatment in a row realizing it was quite possible i was dying and wondered if they knew it. I did treatments for hours thruout the night and they never moved. Hubs came home and was panicking trying to get me to hospital but it was covid and i was afraid i would catch that and die from that so refused. Went to doc at 8 am got checked out and was released a.m.a. Very dramatic. Very possible i would die and soon and yet my puppies stayed with me thruout. I have had this experience a few times in my journey with this disease but that night has never left my memory. How intently they were staying with me and watching me. Yeesh as im typing this i know it sounds so dramatic and it was but its part of the reason i love animals so much. Because they love us. 

Horrible, scary experience! It sounds like you have a really good handle on safety prep. Wish you well with the challenges. And hey, it WAS dramatic...life and death circumstances are about the epitome of drama eh. 

Very true.  

You've done tremendous things with your health since then. Good for you. I hope you know God gives you strength when and how you most need it. Yours was as a long-term weight loss to imporve your overall health.  

Awoke to beautiful sloppy kisses on my chin this a.m., and a paw in my eye! LOL. I'm feeling MUCH less discomfort today. The bug has mostly passed I think. It's just residual muscle soreness. With MS, there is a condition known as "pseudo flare-up". It very often occurs with sickness or temperature change. One must remember, the person with MS has live wires with no insulation running electricity throughout our bodies. Just like an exposed wire in a neighborhood that's lost its insulation, when the weather gets bad or extreme - electricity throughout the neighborhood gets wonky and so does the body of an MS'er when they get sick. This might mean, muscles get stiffer, spasms worsen, or vision can worsen (if that's what's affected). Unfortunately, we can't use duct tape for the damaged spots on our neural fibers. But, symptoms will abate when the sickness has passed and the weather systems in our bodies have returned to normal. All cylinders are firing this a.m., but there was a lot of stiffness and spasms with this one so I feel like I did 100 sit ups even though I never went to the gym. Who knows, I might of increased my core strength without even trying! Ha! Anyhow, with regards to the animal companions that have adopted us - it's always such a beautiful miracle in the face of such pure and unconditional love that we seem to experience such shared sense of well being isn't it? Our hearts only know one language and that is love and I often feel it is through a loving connection with other animals we instinctively create a space where, regardless of our differences - their well being becomes our well being and part of our well being belongs to them. 

Egull, good to hear you are starting to feel better! 

Egull how long have you been diagnosed with MS? Is there anything on the horizon that one day will help with that pain? Sorry, i dont know very much about the disease but it sounds so incredibly painful and you have such a positive and healthy outlook it is inspiring. 

YOH - My DX was back in 2017. With regards to pain management, they most certainly have medications out there that can help, but it also depends on what is being impacted. And, no worries about not knowing much about it. It's a very well known disease and been around since the 1800's but it's also shrouded in a bunch of unnecessary mystery when it's not even that hard to explain. Our brains & spinal cords use neural fibers to conduct electrical impulses that allow us to do everything including make our hearts beat, our legs and arms move, and our eyes twitch if you will...lol. These neural fibers are very much like "electrical cords" you have around your house. And, just like any electrical cord including your phone charger, our bodies neural cords have insulation around them called myelin. For whatever reason, with MS - our immune system, gnaws its way through our "blood brain" barrier, gets gung-ho and starts to attack the insulation around these neural fibers, specifically around areas in our brain and spinal cord. Imagine if your sweet puppies gnawed on your phone charger to the point where you could see the live wire underneath. 9 times out of 10, without that insulation, your phone charger may work but not at full capacity or it may charge your phone, but not all the way. Or, in some instances if you subject the charger to extreme temperatures it may not charge anything at all. And, it's pretty much the same way with MS. Only are neural cords are not replaceable and the damage is often permanent. And, of course because our immune systems are indeed attacking the central nervous system, which is well...pretty much in charge of EVERYTHING including your capacity to breathe or swallow - anythings up for grabs depending on how extensive the immune system has damaged that insulation. With regards to my outlook - I just try to view it as another way to "be". My spiritual practice as a buddhist is exceedingly helpful in both expanding my outlook on the condition and reducing the amount of mental or physical suffering I go through. I mean really, it's a choice. Look at Stephen Hawking - He could have chosen to whither away in misery from "Lou Gehrig's disease", but he decided "meh...I thinking I'll continue as a theoretical physicist and unravel the mysteries of the universe." And, that's what he did :-) I could cry at my prognosis or curl up in a miserable ball when the pain comes, but then I think "girl you ran and olympic triathlon, did 128 mile ultra cycling ride, and a half iron man all in one year...and all on stiff numb limbs!" And, then I smile and the pain just becomes a blissful reminder of all the grace I've been given :-) 

Glad you‘re feeling better Egull 💪 and that Mr Flynn is on the job comforting🐈‍⬛ as only a cat can do. Once again, your posts and repsonses are inspirational👍👍 

Evull, you continue to amaze me! I have lots of MS and RA as well as a gamit of other autoimmune diseases in my family. I have never heard it explained that way. So simple yet for our bodies, so complicated and individual. It amazes me the strides that have been made in this field! Most of my nieces have MS and one of my nephews. All on my husband's side. In looking into it, his maternal aunt and grandmother also had MS. The treatments have come so far! You are an amazing example and I speak of you often to them. It seems to give them hope when I show them your posts. Thank you!🩷🩷 

That, in a nutshell, is what makes you so freaking awesome. I know people who dive headfirst into complacency and acceptance, and those who charge ahead like warriors. You, my friend, are one the of warriors.  

Egull, your ability to share what MS feels like with all of us while shining your beautiful radiant light of hope and courage is absolutely beautiful. I admire you so much and thank you for being so brave. I am praying for you. 🙏🏼🩷 PS- I hope you continue to explain how MS feels to more people. You have a powerful gift for telling your story. 😘 

Egull i have to confess that i got a little choked up and teary eyed reading your explanation. Thank you so very much for the kind and easy to understand explanation of MS. I love what you said. I am applying that to my own health issues and reminding myself to be grateful for everything i do have instead of the fear of what may happen one day. Have you always had this frame of mind to handle things that are not ideal or did you learn on your journey as a Buddhist. I guess what im asking is how did you become so graceful? I try but i get consumed sometimes with fear of what may happen to me and the family that will be left behind. As if without me their world would stop which of course i know is not true. I am so enamored with your outlook. Thank you again for sharing. I appreciate you very very much 🥰