MS Diagnosis

I was 20 years old when I had my first "symptom" in my life that made me have to stop and take notice.  I was living in Dallas, TX, and was going to school to become a paralegal and I was having to learn shorthand and typing skills to help aid in this.  I woke up one Sunday morning and my fingertips on my right hand were all tingling like they were asleep.  I didn't think anything about this at first because I have had different parts of my body "go to sleep" from time to time.  But, it didn't go away like the times before.  By the time I got to church it had crawled down my fingers and then by the time church was over, my entire hand was "asleep", or so I called it at that time.  I was sitting and visiting with my friend who was going to school to become a nurse.  She just happened to be studying about multiple sclerosis and just mentioned right before church something about, "that's can happen to people have MS".  Who'd a thunk that almost a year later that friend would be correct with her innocent comment????

The sleeping or tingling feeling eventually crawled all the way to my shoulder and in a matter of a day, turned numb and I had no control of my arm at that point.  With my being right handed, I was no longer able to write or type.  I went to a doctor in the Dallas area, by myself, five hours away from any family.  By the end of the visit, he was describing in detail to an intern who was observing our appointment, that many times people who do drugs pass out on their arm and it could cause this.  As naive as I was at that time, I didn't catch until later that day that he was basically calling me a drugee.   I was crushed!  What also never dawned on me was that where I was going to college a year before, I would go and donate plasma for money, sometimes as often as twice a week.  Parents weren't too excited about that one.  Anyway, I had one little scar on the inside of each of my arms where they would draw the blood from each time.  I even had a donor card with me.  He never asked me about it, just assumed, and I never thought to say anything either.  Needless to say, I didn't go back to him.  My parents made an appointment for me back home, so off I went to San Angelo where the doctors were unable to figure out what was the cause.  I had MRI's and other tests but eventually they just labeled it carpel tunnel because they didn't know what to call it.  I went back to school and after about a month my arm was back to normal.

The day after Thanksgiving, six months later, I woke up with "fuzzy" vision in my left eye.  I was driving from Austin back to San Angelo on a two lane highway and my oldest brother was jokingly razzing me about not passing the slow pokes in front of me.  Although I had mentioned my vision when I first woke up, I hadn't said anything again until this point.  I told him that I couldn't really see well enough to feel comfortable about passing someone.  He said, "Well, goofball, pull over and let me drive".  By the time we got home my eye seemed to worsen a little and I told my folks.  I went to bed and woke up the next morning and that one eye was completely blind.  My parents called my eye doctor and he met us up at his office even though it was Thanksgiving weekend.  My dad went with me and in the conversation with the doctor he mentioned something about MS.  The doctor said he was thinking that but didn't want to say anything because he was just not sure.  The fact that my dad brought it up, it was then talked about more. 

My dad filled the doctor in on the fact that over the past few months, my biological mother had contacted me to let me know why she put me up for adoption, right after I was born, was due to the fact that she has MS.  I really didn't know much about MS so it never crossed my mind that my vision could have had anything to do with it.  Meanwhile, unbeknownst to me,  my parents were beginning to put pieces of the puzzle together. 

My left eye was solid blackness for a week but VERY slowly the vision began to come back from the outside first, then to the middle.  Almost exactly one month later, a few days after Christmas, I woke up and I was blind in my right eye this time and with no warning. It lasted about as long as the left eye.  I wasn't seeing well at all at this point because my vision was still not completely back in my left eye when this occurred in my right eye. 

I flew back to Dallas where friends picked me up and a few days later I went to another doctor who then put me in the hospital for further testing for a week, over New Year's.  My parents came and took turns staying with me during my stay.  Long story short, absolutely NO test results confirmed my having MS.  I did more MRI's (no lesions), bone-scan, blood work galore and even a spinal tap which I would NEVER do again.  I still have lower back issues 20 years later due to them dragging the needle and striking a nerve.  Just not a good experience for me. 

Over the next few months, from my waste down went all tingly and caused me to slow down but never went completely numb at this time.  Then some time later I went blind, yet again, after what we guessed was due to the strenuous work out I got after rock climbing with my oldest brother and his wife.  This time my vision was damaged somewhat.  In my right eye, it is as though the lights are always dim.  I can see though and in color, even though it is skewed a tad.  Just very blessed to still have vision. I missed a lot of work yet my boss never fired me.  I think it was because his daughter had just gone off to college and he had a soft spot for me because of her.  BUT, he did call my dad and told him what was going on and my parents decided to move me back to San Angelo with them.

Right before I moved back home, my mom went to a concert to hear a pianist, Yanni, who shared with everyone the news that his daughter, who has MS, had just had a baby.  After the concert, my mom went to ask him about his daughter and he pulled her aside and told her about Dr. Swank in Portland, OR.  My parents immediately started researching about Dr. Swank and called to make an appointment.  The waiting list took months usually, but fortunately for me, someone had just cancelled and he gave me their slot. The appointment was just weeks after my moving home.  My mothers co-workers were gracious and loving enough to come up with airfare for both my dad and I.  I still tear up thinking about how unselfish they were to have done this for us. 

We spent the entire day with Dr Swank and his nurse,  Barbara Dugan.  After we had given him ALL the my medical history from the past year, he did his own testing and I as diagnosed with MS.  I started his protocol of vitamins & most importantly the MS Diet he and Barbara came up with.  Barbara was also a nutritionist.  This was when my MS story began.