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. I wasn’t a child prodigy or anything like that. I never joined a chess club…
Ben Hofmeister was diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis in 2014, ending a 22-year career in the U.S. Army, as both a Ranger and Green Beret. He gradually settled into a wonderful retired life in Anniston, Alabama, with his wife and their three boys. He couldn’t be happier. After being inspired by the writing of others with MS, he decided to add his own voice. His column is raw and honest, but sometimes sarcastic and pithy too. MS is a serious disease but a life with it doesn’t always have to be.
The first time you try something should not be the moment you absolutely need it. During my time in the military, I often applied this concept to both performing a critical task with my nondominant hand and using certain…
Read moreMy father taught me to play chess when I was barely old enough to say the names of the pieces. I wasn’t a child prodigy or anything like that. I never joined a chess club…
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…
About four years before I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), someone else inadvertently “diagnosed” me. This person wasn’t medically trained, probably had no personal knowledge of MS, and didn’t actually use the words “multiple sclerosis.” Still,…
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…
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,…
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.
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…
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…
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…
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…
There are a lot of things that I’m afraid of. That seems to come with the territory when you have a chronic disease like multiple sclerosis (MS), or when you’re a parent. At the same time, I don’t…
Halloween is five days away, and if you have kids, you’re running out of time to have your costumes ready. My wife and our three boys have everything figured out, minus some finishing touches — unless I want to…
I try not to let my life revolve around multiple sclerosis (MS), but there’s no escaping the fact that the disease affects every part of it. That’s a bit of a conundrum and often frustrates me to no…
With my kids in school, me being retired, and, of course, the limitations of my multiple sclerosis (MS), I have a lot of free time on my hands. I’d like to say that I always use it productively,…
Back in spring, I wrote about the fatigue that accompanies multiple sclerosis (MS) and how difficult it was to describe and for others to understand. That’s true, of course, but really, the entirety of MS is difficult…
I ask a lot of questions. I have to, because I’ve come to realize that I don’t actually know that much. Asking questions (even to myself) is the only solution. Oddly enough, though, learning new things doesn’t completely scratch…
I’ve never been one to worry too much about what my purpose in life is. It’s not that I’m incapable of being philosophical, or that I was ever too egotistical to think I needed one. I suppose…
Recently, I was asked about the design on the left side of my “Chairborne” banner. A friend from my previous occupation humorously noted that in the original graphic, there’s a skull in the center where the wheelchair now…
“Being diagnosed later in life is like watching a TV show with a huge plot twist revealed at the end of the season and then rewatching it with this new knowledge, picking up on all the foreshadowing and…
Years before joining the Army crossed my mind, I was a Boy Scout. We learned all sorts of skills, earned merit badges, and, of course, spent lots of time hiking and camping. I have many fond memories of…
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