Thar She Goes…..

Multiple Sclerosis goes whale watching

Forgive me please if this blog post gets a little off the multiple sclerosis topic.  There will be a connection, I promise.

Aren’t we with MS always connected to MS in some way?  The harder we try to disconnect to it the more connected we seem to be.

The above is a picture of a whale. No matter how fogged your brain fog may be today you probably didn’t need me to tell you that.  You probably opened my blog and “said what does a badly drawn picture of a whale have to do with multiple sclerosis?”

This image is the only thing I have ever been able to draw my whole life and thus was the consistent subject of all of my art projects in school.  Make something out of clay? Here’s a whale.  Carve something out of a bar of soap?  Here’s a whale.  Paint a picture on a plate to give your mom for mother’s day? Here’s a whale.

 

What is ironic is that I was blessed to grow up in a beautiful place right by the sea and have seen many a whale or two.  Sometimes we were able to see them right off the beach.

So you would think that I would know that the above picture looks nothing like a whale.  Not even a little bit.  Unless there’s a yet unidentified whale species, whales do not look like this.

Yet everyone recognizes my picture.

Just like MS, it makes no sense.

 

Last week my mom, sis and I decided to go whale watching, an activity we try to do every few years.  I was excited to go but also very nervous.  I didn’t share my concern with them as it was too humiliating and horrible to speak out loud.

See, the last time I was on a boat, I got a tiny bit sea-sick and I’ve been traumatized ever since.

I know for most people that’s not a big deal, but for me it was disturbing.  I come from a long line of Portuguese fishermen.  My grandfathers, my great grandfathers, their grandfathers and great grandfathers before that even, were all fishermen.  My father and uncle greatly disrupted the family legacy when they decided to become police officers instead.

By the time I was old enough to pick a career the fishing industry had started to decline locally.  Plus, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be around smelly fish all day and so, I too, took a different path.

But sea water runs through my veins, mixed with Portuguese red wine to get the blood pumping.

Thus, there was absolutely no excuse for getting a little sea sick.  When it happened, I could see my ancestors looking down on me with shame and I couldn’t take it.  What if I got sea sick again?

 

And to make matters worse, this stupid MS has caused me to start having bouts of vertigo.  Physically, I would survive if I got sick on this trip but emotionally, I just couldn’t imagine.  And to add to the stressful mix, it was a choppy day with one hurricane or another somewhere off in the Atlantic churning up some extreme wave action.

I couldn’t speak my concerns for if I did, they would be real.  Yes, I survive multiple sclerosis but to not survive the motion of choppy waves on a big boat, it was too horrible to think about.

On deck the crew was warning people about the severity of the waves and was offering motion sickness pills.

 

I had a decision to make.  If I took a pill and was fine I wouldn’t know if it was the sea faring me who didn’t get sick or the result of the pill.  If I didn’t take one and got sick I would be forced to crawl under an embarrassing but steady rock.

I decided to take the freaking pill, mostly because I was impressed that the crew was offering them to people for free.  Nothing is ever free in the tourist industry but these little motion sickness pills were, probably because the crew didn’t want to have to clean up after the people who didn’t buy them.

After digesting the pill I sat on the bow- the front of the boat for you landlubbers and the place that takes the waves the hardest- and just enjoyed the sun.  And choppy was right.  The boat sped over the waves with a very rocky gait.

And I was fine!!!  I was so pleased by this that I decided to stand up.  The crew kept telling the passengers to hang on as the boat sped along and so I did.  Standing at the bow, with refreshing salty spray blasting at me-circa Leonardo and the ‘King of the World’ bit in Titanic, I hung on for dear life and enjoyed the ride.

 

Behind me, also clinging on for dear life was a little boy about five, who kept shouting “this is awesome!” with every crest we jumped.  And it was awesome.

Pill or no, there was something freeing about this wild ride.  I had to brace both of my legs and my arms held the rail in a death grip to keep from falling but it was fun.

I knew that MS would cause me to be in great pain the next day; that the nerves in my arms and legs would pay me back for this fun but those aches were tomorrow’s problem.

 

We did get in some great whale watching hanging out with a mom and her calf who, like a human child, was enjoying showing off and playing.  They even treated us to a double breach.

I only got to see the mom breach though. By the time I found out where I was supposed to look the calf’s breach was done but I did get to see momma humpback do her thing.

 

That night, still on a high from my wild Atlantic ride, I took two Aleve before I went to bed, anticipating a very bad morning.

But when I woke up, I was fine again!!!

I think people who don’t have our chronic symptoms take feeling good for granted and I don’t blame them.  I used to do that too.

MS is constantly surprising me.  Just when I think there couldn’t possibly be any MS surprises left, it surprises me again.

 

But what an incredible experience to have MS surprise me in a good way with no pain where there should have been lots of pain.

I guess it just goes to show another reason why we can’t let MS hold us back.  With its unpredictable nature, we just might get some good surprises mixed in with the bad.

And did I avoid the seasickness because of the free motion sickness pill and avoid the pain because of two Aleve tablets?

Maybe, maybe not.

But I’m happily considering myself cured- at least of any possible traits that could disappoint my ancestors…

Maybe next week, I’ll go fishing…

*******Fishing drawing by Nicole*******

********If you enjoyed today’s blog you may also enjoy my book, MS Madness!  A “Giggle More, Cry Less” Story of Multiple Sclerosis.

Richard M. Cohen, NY Times bestselling author of Blindsided and Strong at the Broken Places, said that MS Madness! “combines defiance with humor, the secret weapon of the sick.”         Please check it out if you haven’t yet gotten the chance**********