MS Training

Because even in the midst of a pandemic, giggles are good for you!

To my awesome readers-

If you follow my blog you know it’s rare for me to post twice in one month, never mind 2 original blogs within 2 weeks of each other.  But these are not normal times.  And while I hoped to be productive by using this time doing work I need to do-ie, editing a manuscript that may never see the light of day, I’m procrastinating being productive by being creative and capturing the random scribblings that have occurred to me throughout this crisis. 

You, my friends, are in the unfortunate position of having me treat this creativity as productivity and dumping it into your laps!!!!

In my blog I try to be positive and truly believe that making fun of a medical situation helps ease the medical pain.  As a society battling Covid 19, we are frightened.  And we should be.  This thing is serious!

But a random thought came to me recently and I wondered if it has come to any of you who live with chronic illness.

I can’t always say much that’s positive about MS and life with MS; don’t even get me started on the recent hell that was my insurance getting rid of a helpful, fairly inexpensive (for them) RX only to replace it with a terribly ineffective yet very expensive (again, for them) RX.  I could write a whole blog about that!

In fact, I did.  You might see it someday when I’m super grumpy and want to share some major negativity.

But as those around me deal with the Corona virus, I’ve discovered I’m already prepared.  Multiple Sclerosis has trained me well for this pandemic.

Social Distancing?  In my world that’s called life.  Not because I’m afraid of the germs, though I do tend towards germophobic tendencies, but because I’m so freaking tired ALL THE FREAKING TIME!

And now I don’t have to make excuses for it.

Someone- “Yvonne, do you want to go to a party?”

Me- “Sorry no, there’s that social distancing thing.”

Someone- “I’m so bored because I can’t go anywhere.”

Me- “I hear you.  Now pardon me but it’s my rest time!”

Being inundated with Covid 19 information?

We MS’ers have got this!!!

How much info are we exposed to night and day?

I/We know how to filter through it and get what we need, what we should be hopeful for and what’s just blathering crap from folks who have no freaking clue.

Here’s a Covid 19 example-

What we need-   Social distancing is CRUCIAL to help flatten the curve.

What we should be hopeful for- If we continue to practice good hygiene and STAY HOME, we should be able to flatten the curve though it may take some time

Blathering Crap- I hope to see the country up and running by Easter.

Since Covid 19 hit, are you, non-chronic illness readers, suddenly concerned that every little tick and twitch and bit of a tiny medical symptom might be something incredibly dangerous?

We MS’ers understand!

Daily we wonder if this new ache, new body weirdness, new temperature, new cough, new sniffle, new shortness of breath is one of our MS symptoms ramping up and progressing, or just general body weirdness designed to question our sanity.

I feel like my new role as a professional patient should have me teaching others some important skills to deal during this pandemic.

And I would, I really would.

But again, it’s rest time.

And then there’s that whole social distancing thing.

If you don’t mind, it’s time for me to tune out to yet another breaking news report.

Lack of ability to concentrate- that’s called MS brain fog.  Feel free to call it Covid 19 fog if it will make you feel better.

I’ve heard so many people say, “I want to use this time to be productive, but I’ve done nothing.”

I say this all the time.

Hell, I’m still saying it.

I said it 3 times yesterday.

No comprehension of time?  We’ve been in this social distancing period for just over 2 weeks, yet I hear people saying it feels like it’s been months.  Well, in my mind, it’s January 18^th and we still don’t have any snow!

People confused by still being in their pajamas at 2 PM?  Hello?   That’s my natural state of being.  Pajamas rock!

Just the other day I saw a meme that read something like, “It’s 9 PM. Time to switch from your day pajamas to your night pajamas.”

Please.

Amateurs.

I have day pajamas, night pajamas, and various sorts of pajamas that can double as both.

I have pajamas that are in between pajamas specifically designed to wear in those in between fractions of time when you don’t know if it’s night or day or it’s nighttime that feels like daytime or daytime that should definitely still be considered nighttime.

I have pajamas that are decent enough for company and pajamas that are decent enough on the top for Zoom meetings.  (I only just signed up for Zoom– it’s pretty cool.)

I heard a woman on TV talk about her battle with Covid 19 and she described having the worse fatigue she ever thought was possible.

Fatigue.

Fatigue I’ve learned to handle.

I’ve been wrestling with fatigue and training how to live with fatigue for the last fifeteen years.

If we want to count the 90’s, when I partied way too much, I can double that number, though I don’t think that’s the kind of fatigue she meant.

About the only time I can’t say I was prepared for fatigue was in the 80’s when, on weekends, my mom would blast her awful music first thing in the morning and start cleaning.  It was either get up and help or get out.

Nothing wakes a tween up faster than Mario Lanza on full volume at 6 AM on Saturday when you have stayed up until 2 AM the night before watching Friday Night Videos.

You may be so overwhelmed with medical concerns right now you want to crawl into your bed and pull the covers up over your head.

And here’s my best advice for you if you feel that way- blackout curtains do wonders.

As we struggle with the severity of the Corona Virus the very least we MS’ers and other chronic illness folks can say is that we’re well prepared for this ‘self-isolating, quarantine, shelter in place, stay at home order’ time.

And that reminds me of another similarity between life with a chronic illness and the effects of the Covid 19 pandemic- the experts sure don’t make it easy by confusing normally easy terms.

What can we do but try to remain calm, use our common sense and do everything we can to keep ourselves and our loved ones healthy.

Virtual hugs to all of you…