Columns

Living with multiple sclerosis (MS) means learning to navigate changes you may not have expected. We often talk about fatigue, mobility challenges, and brain fog, but there is another part of living with MS that can be just as difficult to explain, and that is mood…

I have been known to occasionally use an experience from my time in U.S. Army special operations forces to illustrate or make a point in this column. Since I “write” with voice-to-text, I can honestly say that I had trouble writing that with a straight face. The right word to…

I’ve been quiet lately. It’s not because I haven’t had anything to write about, but because life decided to throw multiple crises into the mix. Over the past couple of months, my mom underwent both thyroid and major spinal surgery, my cat decided to eat part of her litter mat…

There’s something about the first signs of cooler weather that makes me pause and feel alive again. The days are getting shorter, the mornings feel a little different, and the air finally has a hint of crispness. After months of central Texas heat, it’s comforting to know that cooler weather…

With multiple sclerosis (MS), pain can sometimes be obvious, and sometimes it is something I carry quietly while I go about my day. From the outside, I might look fine. I can have a conversation, answer emails, laugh with someone, or get through everything I need to do, but…

Life always comes with difficulties, and throwing a debilitating chronic illness on top of everything else is never easy. I believe my multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms began in early July 2008. I was dragging my left leg and foot, so I had to borrow my grandmother’s walker and take…

A parent’s instinct to protect their child doesn’t disappear when the child becomes an adult. As a parent, you may find yourself worrying about your child’s future, searching for answers, or wondering how you can make things easier. When your adult child is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), it…

When I was a little girl, I spent many days at my grandmother’s house while my parents worked. We tended to her garden, gossiped on the front porch, and baked together in the kitchen. I reminisce about those days with love, happiness, and comfort, as they are some of my…

I’ve always tried to climb every ladder I’ve encountered throughout my career and life in general. In the military, there were nearly unlimited “ladders” to attempt, if you wanted to. My choices led me to multiple new ones, and while I may have started several rungs up at times, I…

I’m sitting in the family room while my wife, Robin, stands in the kitchen. The dirty dishes are overflowing in the sink. If she leaves them, I’ll notice — and not be happy. If she cleans them, I’ll notice nothing, and life will go on. So she washes the dishes,…

It’s funny how multiple sclerosis (MS) has a way of silencing me. Since my diagnosis in 2016, I’ve felt as if something else has been speaking, moving, and living through me. Although I’ve been present in my own body, it often feels like I’m simply waiting on the sidelines.

There is something about the promise of autumn that makes August feel even hotter. Every year, as summer winds down, I look forward to cooler mornings, changing leaves, cozy sweaters, and the unmistakable feeling of a new season. But here in Central Texas, autumn can feel more like an idea…

There is a beautiful, humbling irony in the rhythm of my life. When I was in my 20s, Bike MS — a cycling series to raise money for multiple sclerosis (MS) research and support that includes a two-day, 150-mile ride known as the MS 150 —…

There are many people who simply cannot admit when they’re wrong. For those who actually can, changing an opinion or belief when faced with new evidence may be even harder. I wouldn’t know, personally, because I’ve never been wrong about anything ever. If you believe that, I also…

I’m drowning. Well, not literally. I’ve never even come close to actually drowning — not even with last year’s pneumonia and the occasional aspiration of liquids. I’m just using it as a metaphor because it seems fitting and I know how much everyone likes metaphors. It may be a…

I vividly remember swimming in my grandparents’ pool when I was 5 or 6 during a family gathering. My older cousins started comparing their features and deciding which relatives they most resembled. Naturally, I started scanning around for my match, too. I am adopted, however, and I do not look…

There is a belief I run into again and again as a caregiver, and it usually arrives dressed as sympathy. It goes something like this: Don’t lose sight of who the real victim is. The person with the disease didn’t ask for it, their life is the one that was…

Contrary to popular belief, I did not attend this year’s Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC) annual meeting just for the buffets and to loot the vendors. I was there mainly to represent the Paralyzed Veterans of America’s multiple sclerosis (MS) committee and raise awareness of its role…

A headache can come and go. You take a break, drink some fluids, and eventually it fades away. But a migraine is not that kind of a headache. Migraines are not “bad headaches.” They are a neurological condition that can affect how someone sees, thinks, feels, and functions. A…

Note: This column describes the author’s own experiences with phototherapy. Not everyone will have the same response. Consult your doctor before starting or stopping any therapy. Receiving a diagnosis of a serious health condition is never easy. When I was told last year that I had multiple sclerosis (MS),…

Following every training exercise and mission I was ever a part of in the military, participants gathered to conduct an After-Action Review (AAR). Although the process has been formalized in the U.S. military, soldiers have probably been doing something similar for millennia, and it’s certainly not limited to that profession.

The family joke is that Mom pulls everyone out of school and work for an entire day, twice a year, just so we don’t get dental work. I like my dentists conservative and careful. That is what functional, biological dentistry is all about, and this integrative physician and mom who…

It’s been my routine over the last decade to have blood panels drawn about four times a year. Each time, I’m warned just before the needle enters my arm that I’m about to be stuck. Occasionally, though, the warning is framed as an analogy. A common one is to compare…

For many people, summer is synonymous with freedom. It’s the season of beach vacations, backyard barbecues, outdoor concerts, and long evenings spent soaking up every last ray of sunshine. Social media is filled with pictures of pool days and tropical getaways, making it seem like everyone is eager to spend…

There is a role no one warns you about when you become a caregiver. You become the place where everyone else sets down their pain. When my husband, Rhead, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), I expected the practical work of appointments, medications, and endless logistics. What…

I didn’t see the movie “Aliens” when it came out in theaters 40 years ago because it was rated R and I was only 11. When I finally did see it, it became one of my favorite science fiction films, and I still occasionally watch it. With the plot, action,…

The most dreaded part of my year has arrived yet again: MRI time. Since I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2016, I have undergone at least one MRI every year to monitor my disease and evaluate the efficacy of my disease-modifying therapy. Although I…

Recently, after I shared some of the harder parts of caring for my husband, Rhead, a stranger left a comment on a recent column implying that I was simply monetizing his multiple sclerosis (MS) — that by telling my story publicly, I was profiting off his illness. I…

I underwent cognitive testing in May, and it was extremely thorough and more involved than I expected. I saw the notes on the Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare website soon after, but the psychologist called me to discuss them in depth last month. I breathed a sigh of relief when…

I used to think the disease itself would be the hardest thing I’d face as a caregiver. I was wrong. Some days, the heaviest weight isn’t my husband’s illness at all. It’s the people around us who refuse to believe it’s real. My husband, Rhead, was diagnosed with progressive…