I answered with:
Bad Coordination
Decreased Judgement
Difficulty Speaking or Understanding Speech
Dizziness
Double Vision
Frequent Need to Urinate
Loss of Balance
Memory Loss
Numbness
Short Attention Span
Slurred Speech
Tingling
Vertigo
Walking Abnormalities
Weakness
Chrissy’s response: “So what? I’ve seen you like that at Peach’s before.” Peach’s being a bar we visited often. I had no comeback. She was spot on.
My mom was also funny about MS. Sandra K had a great way of looking at things and believed her positive outlook is what kept her out of a wheelchair. Sure, she had her troubles with balance and found it difficult to walk straight some days, but she would just make fun of herself. She always said, “If I put a flask in my back pocket, no one will ask questions.” I never knew the woman to drink.
I have adapted her positivity. I miss her every day, and even though she didn’t live to help me through this, just following her example has helped me through some difficult times. Even her friends will joke around with me about various symptoms causing trouble for me. In a phone conversation with my mother’s good friend, who ended up marrying into our family, I was having trouble coming up with words and losing my train of thought.
“Is your brain flaking,” asked Marion.
“Excuse me,” I asked.
“Whenever your mom lost her train of though,” Marion explained, “she would say it was because her brain was flaking.” Marion went on to tell me that my mother told her about an article she read on demyelination, or when the myelin sheaths on nerves become damaged. The author used the word flaking, so my mother ran with it. So saying her brain was flaking was like someone saying they are having a “blonde” moment.
She had other explanations for various symptoms. When her feet would go numb, instead of complaining, she just laughed and called them Spongebob Feet. Apparently when she walked it felt as if she was walking on sponges. When it was her turn to drive in the carpool to work, she’d be asked if her vision was ok. “I’m fine,” she would say. “It’s dark out anyway. No one can see when it’s dark.” Come to think of it...she drove too often with not so good vision and Spongebob Feet. It’s amazing she didn’t cause so many accidents.
I had always wanted to do the MS walk for my mom, but was never organized enough to do so. My own diagnosis pushed me over the edge to walk. My various experiences talking about MS with friends and family led to me wondering if I was going to be the black sheep of the MS walk that year. Would people think I was as funny as I thought myself to be?
After another night at Peach’s (See a theme here?) friends and I were discussing having a team at the walk. The song “Jive Talkin” kept running through our heads which lead to the team name, “Jill’s Jive Walkers.” We had a name, but we needed a t-shirt idea. I thought of my conversation with Chrissy. We put the list of symptoms on the shirt with the title, “MS Symptom or Night at a Bar?” Underneath the list, I put mom’s quote about flasks.
Not only did our team win best tshirt that year, but people kept asking if we had any shirts left that they could buy, including the Ohio chapter’s office. I handed them out for free because I didn’t want to make money off of it. I just wanted to spread good times to anyone looking for a reason to smile.
Thinking of how much my medical bills are, I wish I would have charged money.
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