June 20, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister Our approaches to managing MS may be different, and that’s OK I spent a few of my years in the Army working as an instructor. It was never boring because I think I learned as much from teaching as my students did from being taught. My students weren’t new to the Army. For the most part, they were my peers…
June 13, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister Rowing toward the future, but directed by the past I received a copy of āThe Dictionary of Obscure Sorrowsā for Christmas two years ago. It provides names for emotions that need defining, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed leafing through it. I’m not particularly sorrowful, and I don’t really find the majority of the text to be sorrowful, either.
June 6, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister Obsessing over MS can sometimes distract from other health concerns I have a doctor’s appointment coming up soon. It isn’t with my neurologist or another specialist. It’s a routine visit with my primary care physician and, other than the regular schedule, isn’t really routine at all. There’s a lot more to me than my multiple sclerosis (MS), a fact…
May 30, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister A tactical crossbody bag helps me stay involved in life with MS By the time this column is published, I’ll be at the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers‘ annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. I’m honored to be attending as a representative of the Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) Multiple Sclerosis Committee. Along with the other committee members, I’ll help spread…
May 23, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister How Army terms help orient me, even today If I haven’t warned you that bits of my past in the military would sometimes leak into my present as a Multiple Sclerosis News Today columnist, consider yourself warned. I was in the U.S. Army for almost 22 years, so it’s bound to happen occasionally. If I’d become an…
May 16, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister If our MS lives were like Hollywood, what makes a movie a classic? I turn 49 next week. The fact that I’m in middle age already is unbelievable. I don’t think of myself as old. My mileage might be a little high, but I’m not old. I suppose I could consider myself to be vintage, like clothing, or perhaps even classic, like a…
May 9, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister Everyone with MS uses their own ‘recipes’ to cope with symptoms Before multiple sclerosis (MS) took the normal functioning of my limbs, I enjoyed being in the kitchen ā not merely to be underfoot or lick spoons and bowls, but to actually cook and bake. I won’t claim to have been a gourmet chef or anything like that, but I…
May 2, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister There’s comfort in putting a name to a multiple sclerosis symptom I feel like I’ve been in this exact place, saying exactly what I’m saying right now. Have I done this in a past life? Did I dream it and am now subconsciously acting it out in reality? Or is my brain performing a fact-check on its memory system and signaling…
April 25, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister Finding safety while living with the constant threat of MS progression Even as a small child, I enjoyed watching nature shows. They didn’t come on television often, but when they did, I absorbed every word. At school, I might not have been able to recite the Pythagorean theorem, but I could say with confidence that butterflies taste with their feet. That…
April 18, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister Learning how to write a ‘SOAP’ note feels different after an MS diagnosis Training to become a U.S. Army Special Forces medic included all the things you might expect, as well as some you might not. Although trauma was our primary focus, we also had to be well versed in routine medicine and have a working knowledge of other aspects of healthcare.
April 4, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister Why the difference between empathy and sympathy matters In case there was any confusion, “Chairborne” is not an advice column. Well, not the kind of advice that comes from raw wisdom, anyway. Most of my lessons are closer to cautionary tales than anything else. The only reason I can suggest avoiding any mistake is because I’ve already…
March 28, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister Multiple sclerosis awareness is for people with MS, too The Cambridge Dictionary defines awareness as “knowledge that something exists, or understanding of a situation or subject at the present time based on information or experience.” That definition perfectly matches the stages of my personal awareness of multiple sclerosis (MS). I don’t recall hearing much, if anything, about…
March 21, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister I’m a disabled veteran, but sometimes it’s hard to explain I have not been kind to my body over the years. I was very active in my old life, although I was a little clumsy even before multiple sclerosis (MS) started affecting my balance. Active and clumsy aren’t a great combination. I accumulated plenty of bumps and bruises along…
March 14, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister When you have multiple sclerosis, let assistive devices assist you Aside from a few unpleasant moments, I enjoyed my time as a medic in the U.S. military ā so much so that when I began to slow down noticeably, I decided to continue in that field by applying to become a physician assistant (PA). I initially wanted to…
March 7, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister What do the principles of patrolling have to do with multiple sclerosis? The U.S. military loves abbreviations and acronyms. So many of these are learned during a soldier’s first year that, to civilians, a conversation between service members might sound like a foreign language. It can be amusing, but the intention of this method of condensing words is not to confuse. It’s…
February 29, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister Your perception of multiple sclerosis probably isnāt my reality There are several good reasons why you won’t see me in television commercials for multiple sclerosis (MS)Ā treatments anytime soon. For one, I’m not much of an actor, despite my brief moment of high school fame. For another, even though I wouldn’t go so far as to say that…
February 22, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister How to ask for help ā and offer it Just three years before I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), I was on what was to be my last overseas tour with the U.S. Army. One day while dozing during a lull in a mission, I was awakened by the sensation of someone standing over me.
February 15, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister Caesar taught us about the importance of taking the next step Last month, I told you that while I’m not a psychologist, I’m fascinated by the subject. I should probably make a list of things I don’t do but still find interesting. One of those professions we can add to the list is historian. I enjoy reading and learning about…
February 8, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister A decade with multiple sclerosis demands an anniversary celebration Valentine’s Day is less than a week away. If you haven’t gotten anything for your significant other yet, let me add to the holidayās commercialization by reminding you that time is running out. It really wasn’t my foremost intention to spur anyone into panicked action. This column isn’t even about…
February 1, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister How sleep apnea and multiple sclerosis cause me relentless fatigue I feel like I’ve written a lot of negative, maybe even depressing, columns lately. While multiple sclerosis (MS) can be a pretty negative and depressing subject, I’m normally a bit more upbeat. We’ve been having cold and gloomy weather lately, and I’d like to blame my low spirits on…
January 18, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister With multiple sclerosis, the lesser of two evils is the one you choose My father taught me to play chess when I was barely old enough to say the names of the pieces.Ā I wasn’t a child prodigy or anything like that. I never joined a chess club or competed in a single tournament. I simply enjoyed the game…
January 11, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister My nonprofessional take on the psychology of multiple sclerosis I’m not a psychologist, but if you’re a regular reader of my column, you know that I’m intrigued by the subject. I seem to be particularly drawn to unusual conditions and making amateurish comparisons to multiple sclerosis (MS). In my defense, MS has odd symptoms, so…
January 4, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister How good surveillance can help detect the early signs of MS About four years before I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), someone else inadvertently ādiagnosedā me. This person wasn’t medically trained, probably had no personal knowledge of MS, and didn’t actually use the words āmultiple sclerosis.ā Still, they gave me one of the best clues in my quest…
December 28, 2023 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister This New Year’s, I resolve to express more gratitude ā just not for MS The new year is nearly upon us, so if you’re planning to make any resolutions, you should probably narrow down the list. As I said last year, I’m not in the habit of making any, but I did resolve to foster a sense of hope. I still have what…
December 21, 2023 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister When you have multiple sclerosis, be sure to cast the right shadow I’m not very good at this sort of thing, but depending on whether or not you count today and the 25th itself, we’ve got about four days left until Christmas. If I still needed to get my wife anything, I’d be entering shopping panic mode about now. Fortunately, I don’t…
December 14, 2023 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister A lesson from my military days helps me manage holiday plans When I was in the military, I wore several different hats. A U.S. Special Forces team has only 12 soldiers, so we couldn’t afford for anyone to know just one trick, no matter how good that trick might be. In addition to each person’s primary job, everyone had to know…
December 7, 2023 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister With multiple sclerosis, a little guilt might be under the Christmas tree Counting today, there are only 18 shopping days left until Christmas. Unless you’re one of those annoying people who did all their gift buying months ago and won’t stop talking about it, the clock is ticking. I guess that makes me one of those annoying people who reminds you of…
November 30, 2023 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister Is multiple sclerosis everywhere, or am I just more aware of it now? I encountered multiple sclerosis (MS) for the first time in a Valdosta High School math class. Before my geometry teacher was diagnosed, I had never known anyone with the disease and, in all likelihood, was completely ignorant about it. I would hear the name again about 10 years…
November 16, 2023 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister Understanding multiple sclerosis’ ‘demotivational’ flash points I’ve warned you in previous columns that you might have to endure a rambling story or two from my military past. It’s just that there are so many lessons from the experience that pertain to my multiple sclerosis (MS). It was supposed to rain later that evening, so…
November 9, 2023 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister My multiple sclerosis has made me more suspicious As I’ve mentioned a time or two, my wife and I have three boys. Although they’re all under the age of 12, they’ve started to talk like the budding teenagers they are. As they mingle with peers more than their parents, their vocabulary in particular becomes less like ours every…