My wife first felt symptoms -- numbness, tingling, bands of pain, all from
the waist down --- on Memorial Day weekend of this year and was diagnosed
about a week later. Based on our research and our reading of your postings, I
think she is one of the lucky ones. She is back at work teaching in a high
school and generally moves quite well. I think her biggest and most persistent
physical symptom is extreme fatigue ( on top of the expected fatigue of a
job, 2 little kids who don't always sleep through the night and a new house!)
So that's where I try to help the most -- making sure she gets her sleep --
but I'm starting to wear down now.
My attitude, until recently, was that Bonnie needed a lot of help -- someone
to pick up the slack -- for the first year and that then her fatigue and other
symptoms would abate significantly and we'd be able to return to our "normal"
life. Now, especially after reading some of your stories, I'm starting to
doubt that scenario and starting to realize that these changes might be
permanent. Athough I realize that what I'm experiencing is trivial compared
to what she has gone through, it still is something.
Other issues that I'd like to raise are my wife's guilt feelings over not
doing more around the house and with the kids; her frustration that most
people around her (including me at times?) don't appreciate or acknowledge her
condition because it's not so visible anymore and she has recovered quite a
bit; and our uncertainty about the future because no one can predict how her
recovery will go.
Thanks for listening.
Gary