Blog Summary
In 1985, I started experiencing numbness and motor deficiencies. Like many people, I was tested, and then undiagnosed . Maybe it was multiple sclerosis… but I was not heat sensitive – in fact I loved living in Florida and soaking in the hot tub – and it took 14 years for anything to show up on my MRIs.
I was eventually diagnosed with MS. With ongoing treatment and attention to my overall health, I was able to keep working – as a university professor, teacher and researcher – through my partial retirement and move to the Washington, D.C., area in 2004. My left leg doesn’t work very well, so for walking any distance or in a crowd I use crutches – or I fall down. That’s one nice thing about D.C.: there’s always a crowd to offer help if I fall. Also, the D.C. region is where decisions are made about state and federal funding. And as an MS activist, I like having a say in these decisions.