What caused this?

The two comments that I get the most when other's find out that I have Multiple Sclerosis are. . .

1)     What caused it, is it hereditary?
2)     But, you look so good still!

The second comment I reply, "Why thank you!"  The first question I have no idea the answer to.  It has been proven that MS is not passed down to your children and it not hereditary.  What causes one person over another to be inflicted with this disease is still a mystery. 

There are two different theories as to what causes Multiple Sclerosis.  The first is a lack of vitamin D, which is best absorbed by the UVB rays given off by sunlight in a person's body.  The second theory is that a persons risk of getting MS increases if they had infections in the past.  Epstein-Barr virus increases your risk by two or three fold. 

My mom has told me a story about how I became so sick when I was 18 months old, she really thought she was going to loose me.  She said I was healthy, no fever, no cough or any other symptoms that would have led her to believe that I was getting sick.  Then one day at 10:00 AM I started having diarrhea and throwing up.  She said I was not able to keep anything down.  This continued for a few hours and showed no signs of stopping, so she brought me into the emergency room.  They told her that it was just a virus and that she should just take me back home and push liquids as much as she could.  We got back home and it continued to get worse.  I would turn my head when she would try and get me to drink liquid and I continued to get sick.  She finally got a wash rag and I would suck the water off of that.  The vomiting finally stopped, but now my diarrhea was like water.  She could not get it to stop and I was not looking like myself any longer.

Something was defiantly wrong and my mom was not going to let this go any longer.  She went back up to the emergency room with me and this was now around 6:00 PM.  She saw another doctor and they told my mom again, this is just a virus.  She told them she was not leaving until they did something.  She told them that she was there earlier in the day so they went back and looked at what the other doctor said about my earlier visit.  They came back in the room and said that I had lost 1/5 of my weight in 8 hours.  This might not sound like much, but was significant in a baby that only weighed 20 lbs.  They advised her to take me to Children's hospital.

My mom came home with me and packed a bag to go to the hospital.  She got in the car with me in the front seat and my biological father driving, yes you could do this back in the day!.  She was so afraid she was loosing her baby.  She said my eyes were sunken in I would toss my head back and forth saying, "Wa, Wa Monte, Wa, Wa, Monte."  She remembers having me in pajama's and she had a shirt on. She said by the time they got to the hospital she was soaking wet from the diarrhea.

The doctors got me into a room after my mom screamed at them and told them they needed to hurry up.  They said that I was severely dehydrated and they needed to start an IV right away.  This was not an easy task however because my veins were so hidden from being dehydrated.  They tried my arms and my hands and could not get an IV going.  They told my mom they were going to try my heel next and if that didn't work they were going to go in through my head.  They made everyone leave the room while they were able to start the IV in my heel.  I wouldn't stay still so they tied me down with ace bandages so that I couldn't move.  The doctors didn't want me pulling the IV out that they worked so hard to get in.

My mom came back into the room and saw her baby tied down and started yelling at them asking them what the hell was going on.  They told her that they didn't have enough nurses on staff to hold me and that I wasn't staying still.  My mom said I will hold her!!  They brought in a rocking chair and my mom held me the entire night, tight my her side so that the IV stayed in place. 

By noon the following day I was beginning to look like the old Susie with fat cheeks and eyes that came back to life.  It was my moms determination and motherly instinct that something was wrong that kept me alive today.  They kept me for observation for 5 days after that to make sure that I was not going to become dehydrated again.  My mom never left my side during those 5 days except once to take a shower.  She continued to hold me for the entire visit.

Sometimes I wonder if that is what caused me to be diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.  Out of the two theories that I have seen mentioned above, infection seems to be the only logical reason.  I know as a kid I was outside in the sun a lot and before my diagnosis I was a sun worshipper.  The hotter the better and I used to love to be outside baking in the sun!  My mom cant remember if they ever did classify the "Virus" they told her that I had when I was a baby so she cant be certain if it was the Epstein-Barr virus, or what exactly made me so dehydrated. 

So to answer the question of this blog post. . . . I have no idea, but would love to research it more!
  

Outraged

I was sitting in the checkout line with my daughter in the cart reading the headlines on the silly gossip magazines.  I can’t remember which magazine it was on, but there was a picture of Ann Romney in the lower right hand corner and below it, it read. . .

“Battling MS and why this campaign will kill her!”

I said out loud, “You have to be kidding me!”  Makayla looked up at me and said, “What momma?”  I just shook my head and changed the subject.

How irresponsible for the reporters to put such a headline on the cover of a magazine in order to sell the story.  Stress is a major trigger for flare ups for people that have MS and I can only imagine the stress that this campaign is going to have on her body.  I don’t believe this stress will kill her.  Mrs. Romney was diagnosed with MS in 1998.  I am pretty sure she has ways that she manages her stress levels and whatever else her triggers are.

I have never been so thankful that my daughter can’t read.  Yes, she is only 2 years old, but I am very open with my kids and the fact that I have Multiple Sclerosis.  I don’t hide my symptoms from them and I don’t conceal my shots if they walk in the bathroom while I am doing an injection.  I’m not sure if they realize what is going on, but as they get older we will continue to have conversations with them about MS.  I want to make sure that they are well informed so that when they see a bogus headline like the one about Mrs. Romney and MS ‘Killing’ her they will know better and be just as outraged as I was!