Setting: Early Evening
My husband is walking our two houndmutts as I, with my sticks, am trying to keep up.
HUSBAND: So what’s the itinerary at the NIH? Do you get the spinal tap the first day, or the second day?
ME: The second day. My last visit they gave me the spinal tap the first day, which was ridiculous, because then I had to perform all the evaluative tests the second day while I was still recovering and had a mild spinal headache, so obviously my scores would have turned out lower than optimal. But in a twisted way I’m kind of happy those scores were probably lower than they should have been, because now my decline won’t look so steep, since this time they’ll be testing me before they drain my spinal fluid. I’m kind of self conscious about my pronounced decline.
HUSBAND: (Glances down the street.) Look at the pretty flowers.
ME: (laughing) Like you ever say, ‘Look at the pretty flowers.’
We walked on. It was a pleasant walk, after all.
There are a lot of pretty flowers in our neighborhood.
Ms Lab Rat 
I really enjoyed your optimistic post and beautiful pictures! I like it when I see people “looking at the flowers” instead of just walking by with bad thoughts in their head. God bless you!
Thanks so much!
Are your tests just physical or cognitive as well? I hear that in progressive MS (I have) that your symptoms can get worse but you may not have any more lesions or oligoclonal bands. Then some researchers think measuring grey matter or white matter can be more predictive of disease activity. If you & your doctors have any ideas what measurements correlate with increasing disability it would be fascinating to know. Best wishes with tests.
MS can be getting worse without any new lesions or bands. Our inner cell structure collapses, which is why it’s so important to “mind your mitochondria” as Dr. Wahls puts it, and eat foods that support healthy cells, while drinking lots of water.
I don’t envy you getting an lp. Everytime I get one, I get the my head is going to explode headache. Good luck, I hope it goes smoothly….and yes look at the pretty flowers
Thanks! My lp isn’t until the 19th. At my last visit to the NIH clinic, my doc had mentioned something about experimenting with extracting information from tears instead of spinal fluid. I’d be first in line for that! I’d rather cry a gallon of tears then part with a syringe full of spinal fluid! Thankfully, my hubby is accompanying me for this visit: the first time in maybe six or seven years of trips to the NIH that I’m bringing moral support.
Look at the damn flowers…that’s why they are there. What the hell would we do if insects had your attitude. See the flowers..,first grade reader.
I like this guy. He has attitude!
I like this guy, too.