30-June-08

Last week on Thursday I had my next appointment with my neurologist. It is safe to say I didn't leave with a whole lot of more knowledge than when I went in. It was basically confirmed that since my Lumbar puncture showed 'nothing' it keeps me from being diagnosed as 'clinically definite MS'. And while it is clinically probable MS, it is currently a CIS case, which is just a fancy term for 'You have MS although it isn't quite bad enough for us to really treat you as an MS patient yet'.

I was frustrated that I couldn't just be done with the whole questioning thing, but it cannot be anything else from what we've seen so far, so until I get worse, I'm kind of on my own.

On my own is not really too bad of a place to be right now. Julie and I are going to meet (long distance) with Dr. Brouse in Oregon. We sent off my blood and urine samples to him on Friday so he can run some 80 tests on it all. He will then let me know nutritionally what "I" am deficient in so I can take my supplements in a targeted and not a shotgun fashion. Hopefully we can work on giving my body what it needs to fight this. What I really appreciate is that he is also associated with Shaklee and will recommend Shaklee products for me to take.

Julie and I have talked about what it may mean to 'not' get diagnosed officially. It does mean that things are not as far along as they are with other people's cases, and that is a good thing. I think there was just something about hearing it being definite that would have left me with my own 'definition of the fight'. I am coming to terms with the fact that I am missing only 1 of the 4 criteria to finish it off and that such a small 'need' is really none at all from my perspective of the fight. It certainly would make a difference to the insurance companies, but it does not change my lifestyle and nutritional needs.

You may have noticed I changed my blog title from "My Story" to "My Natural MS Fight" since it seems, at least for now, that is what I can do.

One last thing, for those that may read more into this that what I have written. I do not have rose colored glasses on. I think I am a realist as to how difficult and time-consuming this battle will be. I don't think that dietary changes are the answer to everything, but it is where I get to start. I have a hope bigger than this disease and I have to leave room for the Lord to decide when and if I am to overcome this. It is my responsibility to fight, it is His job to decide when to relieve my symptoms.