[Namron] OT: For those who have been asking after me...

[Melina de Mantua]

Greetings and much love to my Barony and Household. I'm sorry I've been so
absent lately from our activities and the lists (although I've always been
pretty quiet on the lists I guess). I haven't wanted to say anything until
the very last possible test could be done and there were no doubts
whatsoever, just in case that 5% chance it could be something else did
occur. 

 

I kept it pretty quiet but some of you may remember that I had what was
diagnosed as a stroke last January in between the two shoulder surgeries. In
late November of this year, I noticed some numbness below my waist, which in
December turned into complete numbness all the way to my feet, like I'd been
injected with Novocain. The neurologist found a lesion on my spine that was
compressing my spinal cord. He went back and looked at the MRI from January
and thought that it looked more like MS lesions than a stroke so he ordered
a new MRI of my brain. It showed significantly more white matter lesions
since January. The final test results came in today, which was the spinal
tap. I do have MS with significant progression in just one year.

 

I've been on steroids for the numbness but it only lessened it slightly.
I'll start steroid infusions, what my Dr. calls a five day steroid blast, as
soon as this damn weather permits. If that doesn't make the numbness go
away, then it will likely be permanent. 

 

Rob and I have gone through a lot the last couple of years, with both of my
shoulder injuries and what we thought was a stroke, grief at losing loved
ones, and other personal issues. It's been hard on him not being able to
tell people what's going on so I wanted to let people know what I could at
this time so he wouldn't have to field questions he really couldn't answer.
Feel free to give me a holler if you want to know where I am or how I'm
doing on facebook (I'm trying to be better about checking it), in email or
text or phone. I'm not trying to be out of contact, it's just hard when you
can't feel the ground under you (and right now painful on my back) to get
around a lot. And the steroids make me very susceptible to colds and such,
so I keep catching stuff.

 

I miss my SCA family and plan to be around more. Now that we have the final
diagnosis, we can start treatments both for the MS and for the side effects.
And, just like my shoulder, I'll be damned if I'll let this keep me from
playing. It's just taking me some time to wrap my mind around it and get my
feet back under me, with it happening so soon after recovery from the
shoulder injuries.

 

My love to you all,

Melina

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