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Fun … that’s it. Really! Having fun makes my MS more tolerable, and when I’m having lots and lots of fun, I sometimes even forget that I’m living with this disease. Yes, my daily injectable (which has more than doubled in price in the 10 years since I started taking it!) works to slow the progression and lessen the severity of my multiple sclerosis, but it’s the fun and the people that I’m having fun with that motivate me to wake up every morning and keep fighting and thus is the best medicine!

There is one bad thing about all this fun:  having too much of it really wipes me out. While I’d rather blame the MS for slowing me down, I’m realizing that I don’t recover like I used to. Certainly not like when I was in my 20s and didn’t have this chronic illness. And now as I recover, I end up putting some important things–like this blog–on the back burner, and I apologize for that.

So without further ado, here is a glimpse at what has kept me (and Dan) busy:

Hey Boo-Boo 

We went to a great picnic, and there is nothing better than being surrounded by friends who just get you. Friends from my old MS support group in Flint were getting together. A picnic was planned, but our attendance was spontaneous. Talking with two of the group’s members earlier that afternoon, they mentioned their plans and invited us to join them at that evening’s picnic. There was no way were would miss it! And even though I have not been to that group in the four years since I got married, I wanted to enjoy a nice summer evening with them and my husband. This picnic was so awesome because while it was the disease that brought us together, it was barely mentioned. This picnic was about good food, good friends and good, oops I mean, GREAT times.

Play Ball!

No, not me silly. Watch ball is more accurate. Dan, my dad and Jim (my caregiver) and his family went for a fun time at Dow Diamond in Midland. We saw a Great Lakes Loons baseball game. The Loons won! We ate too much–hot dogs, nachos, cotton candy, and of course, for me the required dill pickle–you know, the usual baseball essentials. Bonus, the weather provided us with a beautiful night! The recently built stadium is completely handicap accessible, right down to a family restroom. This essential accommodation makes my comfort and enjoyment an almost certainty. And the cherry on top of this all-American sundae? After trying at the last few games we attended,I finally got to meet the team mascot,Lou E. Loon. What a perfect fun evening!

A man on a mission

After joining our team at this year’s Walk MS a few months ago, Jake (the wonderful husband of my close college friend Heather) decided that I was going to be able to get into their house. See, we had been to their house last summer for a party following the Crim race in Flint, but I couldn’t get into their house because it had a series of steps. 

Jake wanted to ensure that I could see the inside of their house when he and Heather hosted the engagement party for our dear friends, Jen and Adam, on June 27. So he did some research to see what was available. And, after asking me the width of my power wheelchair, he was fairly confident that he had found a solution: His friend, Andy, had access to a ramp from a standard moving truck. That, along with a custom ramp Jake built, made it possible for me to get into their house, which was very lovely, by the way And once in their home I was able to use its bathroom, making it the first residential bathroom, other than ours and my parents that I’ve been able to use in the seven years since I lost the ability to walk. And because of this, we could stay at the party for as long as we (and for a change, not my bladder) wanted. And much fun was had!! Thanks again Jake & Andy.

Dan & I deal with MS every second of our lives, so isn’t it great when we can find fun escapes? We’re excited about the St. Louis Blues Festival over the Fourth of July,  going to another Loons game, the annual Mt. Pleasant MS group pizza party, another Crim race and post-race soiree, and whatever fun opportunities come our way. 

Is it possible to have too much fun? Maybe, but we’ll keep having as much as we can handle. 

** Finally it’s getting close. Our Acorda national contest winning podcast should be up very soon! In the meantime, check out the first of the three winners: Mark’s story is online now.

And go have a little fun of your own!!

Jennifer

Me, working at the computer in my SNAZZY new headset!

Really, it was not that hard. As usual things are much harder in my head than they truly turn out to be.

Taking a graduate class all by myself, no Dan to help me or hold my hand, scared me. But it actually was an experience that helped me rebuild confidence in my abilities.

I am sure that I’m not the only person whose confidence has been shaken by this awful disease. My multiple sclerosis has tried really hard to take so much away from me and unfortunately it has won some hard fought battles. But I’ve held my ground on this one and didn’t let it win this time!

Since I graduated from college, I have always dreamed of going to graduate school. Marrying Dan, who works for Central Michigan University, made that dream more realistic and possible. so I mustered all of my courage  and enrolled in a summer session film class. Yes, it lasted only 4 class sessions and was only a 1 credit course, but I signed up and took this class. And not to brag, I didn’t just sign up and take it, I slayed this film class! Okay really, I am bragging but this is a pretty big accomplishment for me. 

Part of the accomplishment is successfully completing the class and to successfully complete it, I had to write papers. Writing class papers was kind of fun and pretty simple, it was the typing that was difficult. Well it was! With just my right index finger pushing on the keys, it took forever. You try to type a paper of any respectable length with only one finger. Bet you’ll say it’s difficult too

But now those days are gone forever. Well, to be honest and realistic, they are only sort of gone. It’s going to take some time and effort to train my new, most helpful speech to text program, Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Hey I’ve got plenty of time, a decent amount of patience and at least it’s not my old difficult, almost untrainable program (name rhymes with Mista). But that’s a subject and story for another blog.

Here’s my dragon slaying record: conquered the pool, Professor Smith willing… conquered the graduate class. And with a bit of help from a nice dragon, conquered typing. And not just typing, I’m once again typing with capital letters. Did you notice?

That’s Jennifer 3, dragons 0. I like that record!

Oh, in case you were wondering, I’m “swimming” tomorrow morning. That’ll be the third time since I first blogged about slaying my swimming dragon.

Hope you have a fantastic dragon slaying day!

Jennifer