Suzy Does Chicago...

     But not like Debbie did Dallas!  Don't get any weird ideas here, peeps...my good buddy SONYASUZANNE is a kind and sweet Illinois-ian?  Illinois-ite?  OK, maybe just a DIE-HARD BEARS FAN will be enough of a geographic description!!!

     If she tells you I yell at her in emails, it's true...I get very upset when I can't read DAILY posts at her blog, http://miss_suzy.typepad.com/my_weblog/ ...I live for this stuff!  I encourage you to check out her blog as well...it's not only a great read, but just one of those things you feel "connected" to...at least I do.  And that's why I just have to forgive her when she's not feeling well enough to post and keep me entertained on a daily basis (Oh yeah, SUZY...I really didn't put your blog space on any bathroom walls and write under it, "For a good time, read"...I was just an idle threat!).

     BRAINCHEESE features yet another magnificent MSer who took the risk to send a response to the 10/24/06 post entitled, "I'm sick of talking about me...let's talk about..."  Thanks, SUZY, for humoring me:

1.  How old were you, where were you, what time of year was it, and what were you wearing when you "received" the lovely diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis? (Friends of MS--twist it for when you were told about your person's MS...don't forget to tell us what you were wearing, though.)

Ha….I was in lovely Chi-town, at Rush University meeting my second neuro.  I met my first neuro in my home town, and he told me I needed a Psych evaluation because I had too many things wrong with me, and none of them were MS.  Go figure.  This new neuro Iwas waiting to meet in Chicago at The Chicago Institute for Neurology told me I DID have MS, as well as this little known condition called Arnold Chiari Malformation and that I’d also need a Neurosurgical consult. All of a sudden I went from crazy to having MS and needing Brain Surgery.  Ack!!   The year?  Last year, July 2005. I think I was wearing my bathing suit, if’n I remember correctly.

2.  Who was the first person you told about your MS and what was their reaction?  (Friends of MS--whadaya think, what went through your mind when you were told?)

I told Loving Hubby.  I was scared.  He was scared.  I had no idea what I might be up against.

3.  What's your greatest fear and/or secret about your MS and what HASN'T come true or manifested from your MS that you thought would happen or affect you?  (Friends of MS--take liberty with your prose  here...you can change the NAME of your MSer and spill the beans on THEIR crap!  If you change the name and call it a "seminar" in my profession, you're not breaking any confidentiality rules!)

My greatest fear regards the brain surgery I need, and what frustrates me most is that MS is holding things up.  I feel like S**T, as you well know from my ranting to you on the phone.  I didn’t know things could get worse until Little Luv was diagnosed with the same Chiari stuff as myself.  I can handle (barely) myself getting sick…but my boy?  Ahhh…..now mama bear is really pi**ed off!

4.  What's your worst symptom(s) or the nagging thing about your MS that just won't leave you alone?  (Friends of MS--you are given license here to use the words, "gimp", "weeble", "drunken sailor", "blind as a bat", "crazy as a mad hatter", and any other word(s) considered politically incorrect by the disabled or the MS World.)

The nagging thing for me is the ‘you look so good today!’  That drives me absolutely nuts!  Having an invisible illness doesn’t make me feel any better.  My family laughs at my cognitive issues, which I’m learning to do a little better now.  Worse symptom?  Insomnia and pain…lots of pain. (I like to walk pain free if I can…lol)

5.  Who/What supports you/comforts you in your life and where do you go to find it/them/calm/etc.?  (Friends of MS--probably YOU'RE going to be talked about here...take a bow, and then answer the question anyway!)

Family definitely….MOST of my friends…friends like you who support me long distance.  Thank God that I have long distance!  What would I do without it? (Probably emailing you more often, eh?)

6.   And last, but not least, what do you still have on your agenda to achieve/finish/reach/summit/climb/accomplish before retiring to that great, golden Club Med in the sky?  (Friends of MS--I assume YOU have goals, too...what are they?  Do any of these goals relate to your MSer?  What are you wearing right now as you read this?  Throw us gimps a bone here and humor us!!  Ad lib it up!) 

Hmmm…I want to run a marathon, write a book, learn how to quilt, encourage others by touring in a comedy group with someone I have yet to meet in person (lol), make money doing something I really love, buy Loving Hubby a new truck when I make money doing something I really love, and then I’d LOVE TO be given a magic wand to remove all health disorders from Little Luv.  There you have it…my list of goals.  =)  Right now I’m sitting facing the tv, listening to Grey’s Anatomy, wondering how you are doing, wearing Loving Hubbies oversized long sleeve T-Shirt with flannel jammie pants in front of the fire.  Yeah…it’s raining like it was Seattle here too…

     (**Note to Suzy**That's just a lie we tell tourists out here...the "rain" thing...it was sunny and 60 degrees today in downtown Seattle.  Shhhh!)