10 Days Late...

...and my life is complicated.

...Sorry it has been so long between blogposts but it has been a whirlwind down here.

So first things first. I had my Nerve Conduction Study and EMG test. I have to say, I was worried about the wrong test. I was afraid of the EMG part of the exam because I thought they were going to stick me all over with needles. The nerve test came first and that was the icky part. They did the exam on my arms and legs. They connected me a machine with small jumper cables. No joke. The clips are red, green, and black. And then your technician uses a small taser like machine to shock you in various places and it registers on the machine like seismic waves. If you Google Image Search you will find lots of pictures. My technician wouldn't let me take any.

At first it was just little shocks. No biggie. Then she had to do my legs and she folded my knee around the taser device and it was awful. And we had to do it several times because she accused me of using lotion on my legs. I was specifically told not to use any products and I hadn't since Friday. It was Tuesday when I had the test.( I think this speaks volumes about the moisturizing abilities of Aveda products. Because what she was picking up was whatever they massaged by legs with during my pedicure on Friday.)

And after a lengthy wait, Dr. Germin came in. He started talking to me and while he was delivering the news I thought he was embracing me. Then I noticed he was sticking me with needles and I didn't notice! Sneaky Dr. Germin. The needle test was nothing to worry about at all. But he had good news, the results of my earlier test are normal. And the MRI of my C-Spine showed no evidence of lesions. Oh I was so excited! And then he asked me if I was conservative or aggressive.

Me: Depends on the subject.
Dr. Germin: The subject is you.
Me: Depends on the situation.
Dr. Germin: You are the situation.

Well crap. I told him that I am more conservative when it comes to my health. He said I should be more aggressive. He sent me home with some packages from the drug companies about my MS therapy options. I have RRMS ( Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis) and that is the earliest stage of the disease. At this stage, all therapies available to me are injections. Oral medications come later.

Chris and I spent an hour going over the packages last night. He, like Dr. Germin, wants me to be more aggressive about my treatment. I guess I don't feel the need to jump right in when it's so early in the game. And after hours on internet research this morning I'm still not sure. It's like picking your poison. You have to chooose which side effects you want to live with.

The Copaxone does not offer the flu like symptoms of other drugs. It does come with a high risk of skin damage at the injection sites. Far higher then other drugs and it is for daily use.

The Betaseron is an every other day injection that is not recommended for people who work full time because it can cause intense flu like symptoms. It is also not recommened for people who are prone to depression ( that's me). And I have to have my white counts and liver monitored every three months because it can cause damage.

I'm leaning towards the Copaxone but part of me feels like a coward for being scared of the Betaseron.
They both have the same success rate of reducing attack by 1/3 over a course of two years. The Betaseron is stronger and I will eventually be on an interferon so I guess it wouldn't hurt to start now? I don't know. I want to talk to someone who is actually on or has taken one of these drugs but I still don't know anyone else with MS. Everyone I know knows someone else, but they have failed to get them in contact with me. It is very lonely .

Well I registered this morning as a volunteer at Walk MS 2012 in Las Vegas. I will figure out how to link it here later. But I have goal of collecting $100 in donations. I'm excited to do this. I had a blast at the last community event I volunteered at, Kitsap Pride. It may be two months away but I am excited to get to meet some people who have MS also and see people functioning in various stages of the disease. I have called about the MS support groups in the area and haven't recieved any calls back :(
There is only one group on the MS society website so I am assuming that there aren't a lot of MS'ers in the area (probably because of the heat). But I am going to talk to Dr. Germin about it at our follow up appointment.

Oh.. and if you know what song the blog title is from no, I'm not pregnant.