Like most people I am many things, but one of them is a person who was diagnosed with M.S. almost 10 years ago. Those people  who are familiar with the disease know that it seems like it's all downhill from there. It's what I sometimes call the gift that keeps taking away.

Some days, before the sun has cleared the deck railing, I'm back in bed. It used to be that there would be a very full day in between the "getting up" and the "collapsing" back into bed. In those days, if it was just me and the "Energizer Bunny," the smart money would have been on me.

I've been rewired so drastically that the scale by which I measure success has changed. What hasn't changed is what I call my best. That bar hasn't and won't ever be lowered. It just means that maybe I won't reach it today but I'll expect to arrive there tomorrow. In childhood I was knicknamed "Sparky" and although some days I fire on fewer cylinders, I'm still moving forward.

Patricia

Comments

• 2. Brett (23 February 2009 at 9:11 p.m.)

  If you recall, when we went to middle school together, I'd already had Diabetes for a few years. Having lived with it for 38 years has always proved a challenge. They told me when I was diagnosed that I'd likely only live 27 years. That took a bit of therapy to get past. I thank God that technology has kept me alive past that prognosis. I hope that the "Sparky" spirit keeps shining and keeps you winning the battle. Some days I just can't bear to stick myself again, but I do.
  
  

• 1. Heathersneste (21 February 2009 at 8:33 p.m.)

  On your worse day you are still more productive than most of the people I have known in my life including myself :-)