Visions of wellness didn't dance in her head

Today I brought my computer to the neurologist’s office just so I could write. The wife’s MRI is today. We will do this every six months to make sure the old lesions haven’t grown and no new lesions have cropped up. She has MS, though it hasn’t been truly diagnosed. We’ve run the gamut of Neurologists. Well, okay, not the gamut, but 2 thus far and I’m trying to convince her to go to the one who specializes in MS. Yes, we have 1 in all of Dallas. Being on the other side of things has been such a learning experience. I’ve watched her explain her symptoms over and over to different doctors. Our family physician is a very good doctor and has worked well with us, but the first neurologist she sent us to was a quack. He read the wrong MRI report telling us nothing showed up, and then proceeded to tell her that perhaps her symptoms were stress related. We would never have known the wrong report was read had we not requested a copy of the MRI information. By the way, while stress exacerbates her symptoms, it is not the main source. The MRI showed 3 frontal lobe lesions and a minor infarction. We rescheduled with another neurologist. We were rolling right along with this one, but she feels that if the wife truly had MS, her episodes would be more severe than they actually are due to age and length of time she’s been experiencing symptoms. Well, her episodes are gradually becoming more frequent, and has anyone ever heard that symptoms associated with any disease often prevent with different levels of severity at different times? I just read a story the other day about more adults being diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis… unusual yes, but it happens. Ughhhh, so frustrating.

So, I suppose my goal is to convince the wife to see the specialist. I understand her hesitance. She’s tired of all having to explain over and over again what’s going on with her, and I think that deep down she really doesn’t want to be told officially that she’s got MS. I understand this. I also understand that even if she is diagnosed, she won’t take the meds because the side effects are worse than what she’s experiencing with her symptoms alone. Regardless of any of this, we need to know what’s going on. Knowledge does give you some modicum of power. I think if she knew officially, she would be more likely to follow the regime I’ve tried to put her on as far as natural herbs and vitamins that help reduce and even prevent some of the symptoms. Wish me luck!