Running the race

As many of you know, I have a team of specialists that I visit on a regular basis.  My own personal Avengers!  The fabulous part is that they all communicate really well together.  They are all at the top of their fields and are often recognized for their advances and "out-of-the-box" way of thinking.

I met with my immunologist a couple of weeks ago and my blood work looked great, with the exception of my antibodies.  They had increased during the time when we had withdrawn treatment, and they have yet to come down. This could be why I have had more symptoms lately.

Two years ago, after having a relapse and experiencing the usual stroke-like symptoms and tremors, my neurologist from the Mayo Clinic explained that because I am still considered young in their field of medicine, she believed my brain would compensate and find new pathways to communicate.  I just needed to give my brain the opportunity.

Last December, I was reminded of this conversation after I began losing the use of my left arm and leg. Those symptoms improved after restarting the immune suppressants, but I was struggling to get back to where I was before I got sick.

With encouragement from my 42 year old Neurologist who runs Iron-mans for fun, I returned to the gym to try to live a normal life.  Six month later, I am running and exercising almost at the level I was before I got sick.  I have even taken on the challenge of running a half marathon on the 1 year anniversary of my last relapse. 

I am constantly reminded though that this is a dance and I am not always leading! I have been unusually tired over the last couple of days, and fighting harder to stay positive.  I learned that my last neurological test of my fine motor skills showed zero improvement, and actually declined slightly despite all the other improvements that I have made.  While my doctors will not speak in definite terms, it does appear that these symptoms will be permanent.  So I will be brutally honest with you all...the last couple of days have been hard. I need to be strong for so many people, but today...I'm not, in fact...I think I am going to crawl back into bed.