positive thoughts... hope everything is ok

Genesia said:

Carrie, I know only too well how it feels when the love your life may face a difficult, long-term illness. (My sweetie has a rather aggressive form of Crohn's disease.) The best thing you can do is love and lean on each other. You and BF are in our thoughts.

Thanks, Geneisa. I remember when you were going through some tough stuff with that earlier.

And thanks to the rest of you guys too.

It's nice to be able to vent a little here and get support in return.

CarrieMpls said:

Lammastide said:

Of course this is nagging at you. You and your baby daddy are in my prayers.

Carrie, is there a high incidence of MS in Minnesota? I understand prevalence increases the farther north you go, and a friend from Saskatchewan who has MS says one of the highest concentrations of MS in the world is in the Canadian prairies just northwest of you.

I don't know specifically about Minnesota, but I've read the same. the further from the equator the more likely it is...

I've never heard that. Interesting.

Nothinbutjoy said:

CarrieMpls said:

I don't know specifically about Minnesota, but I've read the same. the further from the equator the more likely it is...

I've never heard that. Interesting.

http://www.mult-sclerosis.org/facts.html

And as I also heard before that race might also matter I found this quite interesting:

http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/53/10/906.abstract

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Sending positive thoughts to you and your bf! Hang in there!

I hope your friend's malady isn't as serious as it appears. Sending well wishes yuour way.

Sorry to hear this, Carrie.

Lots of positives vibes and good energy winging it's way over from Mon and I

sending positive thoughts... and may a positive thought factory flourish in the center of your mind today, to dispel all fear, which leads to doubt. your brain has astounding power. please don't doubt the power of the habit of visualizing, hearing, and feeling perfect health and wholeness throughout his body

CarrieMpls said:

And thanks to the rest of you guys too.

It's nice to be able to vent a little here and get support in return.

Best wishes Carrie. I'm glad he has you by his side.

Cerebus said:

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Much needed. Thanks.

Lots of ups and downs. I keep going through feeling OK to getting pretty scared again. I guess that's normal. And how it's going to be until we know more.

OMG, this is so scary.

You and Chris are in my thoughts, Carrie.

CarrieMpls said:

Thanks, you guys.

I have a close family friend who has MS and while she was debilitated early on and in a wheel chair for some time, she has now run 2 half marathons in the last year or so and teaches zumba classes.

That's amazing!

He also just feels different. He’s been convinced there’s something seriously wrong with him for a while now, they just haven’t been able to diagnose anything. While I certainly don’t want him to have MS, A diagnosis and course of action now will actually be comforting.

I can attest that having answers and knowing what you're dealing with, and therefore how to treat it, is a huge comfort and can change everything. I was completely debilitated for a year, until I finally got a correct diagnosis. I'm so, so much better now.

I really hope you guys get answers (good ones!) very soon.

Thanks, jersey and erin! And paintedlady.

Yesterday was the brain MRI. It's held at a different facility, so it's not like you hear from the doctor until later. We won't get any definitive results until after the lumbar puncture next week.

While they were preparing to begin, the MRI technician started chatting with him, "So, how long have you had MS?"

He took it in good stride. He replied he was just finding out about everything and left it at that.

This doesn't mean he necessarily has it (as the tech doesn't necessarily know anything), but really, all signs point to it at this point.

We've been talking lots about it. He's scared, but in good spirits, all things considered. We were at a birthday party last night and he joked about taking a chair I was on, saying I'm going to need to get used to it. He has been joking about lots of stuff.

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orgnote.

CarrieMpls said:

Thanks, jersey and erin! And paintedlady.

Yesterday was the brain MRI. It's held at a different facility, so it's not like you hear from the doctor until later. We won't get any definitive results until after the lumbar puncture next week.

While they were preparing to begin, the MRI technician started chatting with him, "So, how long have you had MS?"

He took it in good stride. He replied he was just finding out about everything and left it at that.

This doesn't mean he necessarily has it (as the tech doesn't necessarily know anything), but really, all signs point to it at this point.

We've been talking lots about it. He's scared, but in good spirits, all things considered. We were at a birthday party last night and he joked about taking a chair I was on, saying I'm going to need to get used to it. He has been joking about lots of stuff.

It's a good way to deal with stress and scary stuff.

Our love to you, Carrie. I'm so glad he has you right now...and later too.

big hug and prayers to you both...

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I hope you guys get a definitive answer from the upcoming tests.

sextonseven said:

I hope you guys get a definitive answer from the upcoming tests.

Thanks.

Should be hearing SOMEthing today from the doctor. We want to know what they found on his brain MRI.

I know someone who has ms and she is always in the hospital, so I feel your pain. I hope he doesn't have it, but if he does he will still be active, a bit. You can still love him, be his friend.

I also know that spinal taps are vicious. The CT scan I had one time was bad enough. Just give him support and your love. You seem to give off real sweet vibes, so he will need that.

sorry to hear this, i hope you get good news.

*sending positive vibes*

Since a few of you have asked…

My boyfriend and I still don’t have a diagnosis for his health issues. We won’t get a definitive answer until April 5^th when he meets with his neurologist again. To catch you up, his spine and brain MRIs had findings that could indicate MS but now we need to wait for the results of his lumbar puncture (spinal tap), which we’ll hear about at that next appointment.

His lumbar puncture was this past Friday and the procedure itself went great, but the after effects have been really difficult. He got a severe headache the next day (which is the most common side effect) and when it wasn’t gone the following morning after lots of rest and ibuprofen the doctor told us to head into the ER. We spent all Sunday there and he had a bad reaction to the migraine medication they gave him – he wanted to rip out his IV and leave the hospital immediately and everything. It was pretty scary. So after giving him counteracting meds they sent him home with a prescription for stronger ibuprofen which kept the headache from being debilitating, but didn’t knock it out completely. He’s still having bad headaches and now having nausea on top of it. He had jury duty Monday and Tuesday and never got called on a jury so was able to basically lay down all day and do nothing in the courthouse. He was feeling a bit better last night and we went out to dinner and about half way through he felt awful again. He was unable to sleep through the night, up from 1-3:30 am, and still managed to make it into work but shortly after headed back home and his parents brought him to the ER again this morning.

He needs to have an epidural blood clot to stop his spinal fluid leaking and that should clear up his headache and nausea. The last update I got was that they were giving him anti-nausea medication and they didn’t know if they’d be able to schedule the epidural blood clot for him yet today.

It’s not natural for me to be a caretaker. I feel like I’m not very good at this. I feel utterly inadequate and wish there was more I could do to help him.

This sucks, you guys. Please give your loved ones a hug and be thankful for your health.