Tag: MS

23 Years!! 18th December 2018

It was this time of year 23 years ago when I had my first symptoms of MS, Optical Neuritus.

I remember it really well, going to the doctors and they were thinking it was just some viral thing. Pain in my left eye and blurred vision. It gradually got worse, so I eventually went to the hospital. That started the loads of different tests over several months to try to find the problem.

I remember going up to Hull for Xmas, by that time my vision in my left eye was totally black! I remember it was freezing fog all the way up to Hull, so driving with only one eye was extremely challenging and a little bit scary.

We made it up there though, had a good family Xmas and got back home to Ipswich without any problems.

I remember when my eye was still quite bad and nobody knew what the problem was, being told by the optometrist that it was possible I would not get my vision back in my left eye. Luckily after some steroid treatment my vision came back to almost as it was before it started.

It wasn’t until the August of the following year, after the multitude of tests, that I was given the diagnosis of it being MS,

For the first 16 or 17 years my MS didn’t have a major effect on my life, it’s only when it changed from RRMS to Secondary Progressive MS that it started having a large impact on my life.

It is what it is! Yes it’s slowly getting worse, and yes I know that I can’t do anything to change that.

But I’ve had a fantastic life so far. And I will continue to live my life under my conditions, not the way MS expects me to be! I have the most supportive network of family and friends anyone could ever wish for. Most of all I have the most loving, hard working, understanding wife in the world ever! Who means absolutely everything to me, and is my main reason for existing and fighting this challenge with every fibre in my body. Which I will carry on doing for as long as there is breath in my body!

Anyway, enough for today. Keep fighting the fight and never give up.

Rob

Monday 1st January 2018

Well that’s 2017 over and done with, time to start 2018. Hopefully it will be a bit easier this year with less stress and less huge changes!

2017 started ok, we were still living in Cyprus and looking forward to another year there. I even managed to get over to the U.K. at the end of January to visit family in Hull and spend the day with my brother on his birthday. Even went to my first football match in alot of years and watched Liverpool, unfortunately they lost but still good to be there.

We definitely were not expecting things to change so much later in the year! I look back now and I can’t really believe how much things have changed for us.

It all started with Hales being told she was being made redundant after 16 years with the same company, the last 10 while living in Cyprus. It was definitely a shock and it took as a while to understand the full impact of the news.

We talked over all the options available to us, ultimately we decided our best option was to return to the UK and try to start again. We had always rented fully furnished in Cyprus so we didn’t have huge amounts of stuff to get rid of. We sold some stuff and gave away quite a few things as well.

We managed to put a little bit of money together from selling a few bits and a small bit of savings we had. We used that to pay to get back to the UK and start to furnish the place we had found to rent. We had decided to move back to the Ipswich area as we had lived there for longer than anywhere else, so it was a familiar place to be.

It’s been a bit of a hard year, getting used to life back in the UK. Plus we are kind of starting a new life again, having to gradually buy everything we need.

My MS is still deteriorating and I am still trying very hard to slow it down as much as I can, and keep my fingers crossed somebody finds a cure soon! It is what it is though, I don’ worry about it too much as that won’t help.

So life goes on, we are making a new life and new memories here. We are already feeling quite settled now and ready for any more challenges thrown at us!

That will do for today, I am determined to keep posting regular updates on my blog this year. So keep tuned in for further waffling from me!!!

Rob