My Blessings

I have found a message thread on PatientsLikeMe.com started for patents with SPMS and PPMS (Secondary and Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis). I have been looking forward each morning to read the latest posts.

And I have been aware of some new problems and pains recently and I woke up worried about them.

Although the two things above may sound unrelated, both of those thoughts lead to another and I began thinking of all of the blessings I have.

Of course there are those blessings I have always known and been thankful ...
- My Lord, My God and all that He has given me.
- My husband and son for whom there are no adjectives that come close to describing them
- Katherine, the fabulous woman who has added a half to my son that none of us realized he was missing until Katherine came into his life
- My family and incredible friends

But beyond all of that I know I have blessings about my MS. Although I only started having recognizable problems two years ago, within a year a had to use a walker and was diagnosed with a progressive form of MS.

But one of my blessings is that it is SPMS (Secondary Progressive) as opposed to PPMS (Primary Progressive), I am blessed that my symptoms have not continuously declined.

Other blessings I have found with my MS...
- I have to list Joe, my husband, here first again. He has been here for me since we met over 41 years ago. And I know he thinks I shouldn't have been surprised but he has stepped up to do everything more I need now. From major changes like doing all of the cooking and shopping to little things like making sure that there is always bottled water on the kitchen counter and re-arranging the kitchen cabinets so the things I need the most are now in one corner. I certainly would bore all of you if I listed even a quarter of the things that he does for me with my MS.

- My friends have stepped up so much. When Joe is out of town I can rely on them for rides to doctors and even special trips like going for lunch or manis and pedis, And if I can't seem to drag myself down to get the mail or the newspaper, it magically appears at my front door.

- But even with my MS, I know I'm blessed for the abilities I still have. I can get around the house with my walker and even some "wall walking". I still don't need help with most everyday activities. I can take care of myself and do it quite well even when Joe is out of town.

So instead of dwelling on my pains, problems and things I can no longer do, I prefer to focus on the blessings I have. I have known for quite a while that I am a problem solver. And this MS thing has just given me a few more problems for which I need to find solutions.