Friday March 23, 2024 started out like any other day between night shifts. I woke up from a nap around lunchtime to take Pippin out, and felt a very tight muscle contraction in my left arm and face. It felt like someone put a fish hook in my mouth and pulled the corner of my jaw toward my shoulder and my hand contracted into a ball.

True to form, it seemed to pass and I continued to ignore this sensation over the next several days in order to fulfill some prior obligations that I had. Monday morning March 25, 2024 I was brushing my teeth and was able to catch a picture of the involuntary facial contraction on camera – and it was so much more noticeable than I had envisioned in my head.

I arrived to the emergency department at St. Anthony North approximately 8:30pm and immediately showed the ED physician the picture I had been able to capture as well as a rundown of the weekend’s symptoms. We quickly determined to check for a severe electrolyte derangement that could be causing the spasms/contractions, get a head CT, a brain MRI and admit me to get an EEG done to check for seizures.

By midnight I was taken up to an inpatient room, and around 1:00am, the MRI had resulted showing a demyelinating process in my brain consistent with MS. My life is forever changed.

What is Multiple Sclerosis?

Multiple sclerosis is a disease that impacts the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves, which make up the central nervous system and controls everything we do. The exact cause of MS is unknown, but we do know that something triggers the immune system to attack the CNS. The resulting damage to myelin, the protective layer insulating wire-like nerve fibers, disrupts signals to and from the brain. This interruption of communication signals causes unpredictable symptoms such as numbness, tingling, mood changes, memory problems, pain, fatigue, blindness and/or paralysis.

https://www.nationalmssociety.org/What-is-MS

What does this mean for me? I will be having follow up appointments and treatments for the rest of my life. My goal is to make as many lifestyle changes and adhere to my medical treatments keep the disease from progressing. I have been told that I stand a great chance of living a full life, despite having MS. As with most things, these treatments (scans, tests, medications and specialists) are not cheap.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading and considering making a donation to help me get ahead of this thing. I plan to continue to climb and do the things I love. Being active both mentally and physically will be the best things for me moving forward. I cannot begin to express my gratitude to the outpouring of support I have received this week. I am the luckiest girl in the world to have such an army of friends behind me. You all have me, and I’ve got this. It’s just another mountain to climb.