Wednesday, May 11, 2011

One of the Three Deadly Sins of MS

Dr. Swank used to always tell us that there are three main life stresses that really seem to impact Multiple Sclerosis - Moving, Death and Marriage. Well, we have made it through all of these, and are in the middle of moving once again. I have taken a CEO position with a Children's Home in Kansas, so we are loading up this Friday and moving to Wichita. We have been packing for over a week now, and the stress load is weighing on my whole family, and especially my wife.

She has been very fatigued lately anyway, and with the added moving stress, she has been sick after every meal, had bad headaches, struggled with tight muscles in her neck and shoulders, and just had to push through all of it to pack and get ready to move. It amazes me what she can push through and how willing she is to work even when she feels like she's been hit by a Mack truck. She is finishing our kitchen today, and I am so proud of how hard she works and how positive she is even during these times.

One of the reasons we even looked at this job was because of the health care available in Wichita. We have been two hours from our Chiropractor which has been a pain, and I really think it has caused her to have more issues. When she is seeing the Chiropractor regularly, she is a different person. And if we have a good massage therapist to work her shoulders and back, it multiplies the effects and she does even that much better. We have learned how important it is to live somewhere that we can have easy, quick access to natural Doctors and a good Chiropractor. We are excited for the move and will be seeking a new Naturopathic Doctor as soon as we get there.

So, we won't be able to avoid one of the big three stresses on MS this time, but we know that this will be a better place in the long term. Controlling stress in your life is vital for MS patients, and I know for us it is probably one of the most challenging things we manage. When stress is minimized, we've noticed that life is so much easier, and my wife's MS begins to take a more back seat to daily living.