The ‘official’ diagnosis of multiple sclerosis came on October 29, 2011. I use the word ‘official’ because I’d been having symptoms of numbness for a while and had even seen a neurologist who suspected that was what was happening. At the time, I was dead set against that idea because, ironically, my birth nearly 39 years earlier had left me with a moderate case of cerebral palsy (CP), and the idea that the Universe would actually do that to me was something I couldn’t wrap my head around.
I had to accept my fate when the symptoms of complete right-side numbness, double vision, loss of fine motor skills, and balance that was so bad I couldn’t even stand landed me in a hospital bed with an IV jabbed into my arm, pumping my body full of steroids. The doctor, the bearer of the news, said that if I had to get MS, she felt I got the ‘best’ type because my milder symptoms before my hospitalization resolved themselves without medication.
Having been born with CP, I was already used to mild balance and gait issues and had decided at 14 years of age to use crutches to help with mobility and give me the complete independence I still enjoy today. Truth be told, my balance wasn’t really horrible back then, and the crutches were more of a confidence boost than anything else because being stared at in public as a kid made me nervous, and that alone would make me fall. So when the diagnosis of MS did come, I already had the tools I needed to manage any forthcoming mobility changes.
Fast forward to today, and I believe the doctor I saw during my hospitalization a dozen years ago was right because once I started taking a weekly injection to help prevent the brain lesions caused by MS, all the symptoms resolved. I haven’t had serious flare-ups or concerning areas on any of the numerous MRIs I’ve had in over ten years. On all accounts, I’d consider myself fortunate. The type of MS affecting me does not seem to be recurring, or at least is almost totally controlled with medication, and there doesn’t seem to be the type of disease progression that leaves some patients completely debilitated. The one thing I have seen over the years is a profoundly noticeable change in gait and a decline in balance.
Enter the PoNS device…..
