The neurologist says. . . .

Yesterday was the day that we had been waiting for. It was to kind of give us a basis for things to come with my MS.

We dropped the girls off at my friend Jane's house. She is so great! Never a hesitation in her mind for helping out. A terrific friend. Jay and I headed off to Dr. Freking's office.

This man has such a quiet yet smart demeanor about him. Do you think that comes when you make over $500k per year? Perhaps. I don't think I will ever know.

We went over the results of all of my tests that had been done the couple of weeks before. Basically, all of the test were "abnormal". What that really means is that they are "normal" for MS, "abnormal" for those without. Not surprising, that is what we expected.

With MS, there is no test that you take to tell you that it what you have. It is really more that you are put through the rigors and tests to make sure that there is nothing else that you have. Testing against all other possiblities.

Dr. Freking said that this is the time to start discussing treatment options. He had a couple of questions to get us pointed in a direction of which treatment would be best - do we plan to have more kids, what are my days like, and something else that I don't remember.

I am still not really clear about the differences in the different meds. There are only six approved drugs for MS - some are once a week, some are 3x per week. All of them are injectable and all of them make you sick. Yeah. It is not bad enough to live in MN where getting sick especially this time of the year is the norm, but I will now purposefully be making myself sick.

We found that at this time Avonex will be the best treatment for me. I will have to inject it once per week, for, well, forever. After you take the meds, most people are found to have all of the flu like symptoms - puking, sore musles, fatigue, etc - for 24 hours after. So I have to find a cherished weekend day that I can give up to be sick, so that Jay can take care of and have fun with the girls.

I have now been fielding calls from the drug company, the off-site pharmacy and the nurse that will come to my house to teach me how to inject myself. jay is hoping that I have to get them in the ass cause he wants to administer. I hate to dissappoint but since it has to be given into the muscle, I would hate to see how big the needle has to be to get to the muscle in my ass.

Yesterday evening I went to dinner with Cathy. A great friend of mine for 20 years, we figured last night. She is one of those gals that no matter how long it has been since we have seen each other we always have so much to talk about. We left the evening swearing that we will be getting together much more often. I hope that we can follow through.

Coming home to the girls, and Jay, was sweet. I love my little family more then anything in the world. As Dr. Freking told me yesterday, I will be around to watch my kids and grandkids grow up. That is priceless and with all hopes, I will have the ability to run and play with them all too. I will keep praying.