anyhoo, i saw this older man there (i’ve seen him before). in fact the last time i saw him, he appeared to be having problems swallowing; he was in much better shape this time around tho. he’s in some type of electric wheelchair, but then on top of that, it appears that he can’t talk – now, this is all my observation – he just makes loud noises when he needs to get someone’s attention – is it the MS? i haven’t a clue. I learned later that his wife comes in with him. She was standing around waiting on him and saw me walking past. i wasn’t struggling at the time but clearly i don’t walk like everyone else so as i walked past, she said some encouraging words to me and then we started talking. She didn’t get into a whole lot of details (she was telling me about some of his progression) but as the conversation went on, i couldn’t help but wonder if this is what is in store for me in the future – there just seemed to be similarities – his walking, problems with his hand. I’m thinking his case is extreme and so far mine is not. Admittedly, it was a fleeting thought but…
He was juicing up at the same time and at some point during the process, he started making the noise. one of the nurses kept asking him different questions to determine what was making him so agitated but she just couldn’t get to the bottom of it. Eventually, another came over to help and as it turns out his leg had extended too far out (he was sitting) and all he wanted was for them to bend it and bring it in closer to him. I wasn’t close enuf to determine if under the noise he was actually saying 1 or 2 words for them to figure it out, but it must have been so frustrating for him trying get everyone on the same page.
Again, i don’t know if he only has MS or even if the MS is the cause of it all, but of course i couldn’t help but think that this disease is such a wretched, wretched disease.
The initial response of receiving news that you have a chronic illness is often quite devastating and because of that, depression is one of the most commonly noted emotional MS symptoms. Living with such complications can intensify the emotional lows.
Always good to read about your box of chocolates, Stax. Merci!