I Now Pronounce You Man, Wife...and Uninvited Guest

Scott and I were married on May Day of 1999 in a small, happy, rainy ceremony at our church. Nearly six weeks to the day following our "I Do's", we got our chance to test out the "in sickness and health" portion. We were hanging out with some friends at a weekend barbeque when Scott realized something was funky with his left eye. He had noticed it the day before, on his way into work, but thought it would go away. Standing in the sun, he said he could see folks standing beside him, but not the ones standing right in front of him. They were all fuzzed out and grey. So, we figured a visit to the opthamologist was in order, so we could get him a new pair of glasses first thing Monday morning. Now I can't even remember why I chose to tag along with him to the eye doctor; maybe it was one of those do-everything-together-newleywed-things, but, for whatever reason, there I was, saddled up beside him, ready to help him pick out his new specs. The good doctor ran a bunch of tests, some we'd never heard of before, and, when he'd finished, he looked Scott squarely in the eyes and said, "I'm going to call down to the hospital and schedule you an MRI...I think you have MS." There couldn't have been much of a delay between the doctor's last sentence and the "What?!" we screamed in unison. What's MS? What about the glasses prescription?

Thus we became a marriage of three: Scott, me, and that nasty, nasty game-changer called multiple sclerosis.

It's been a really weird eleven years since, with things being thrown our way we never could have expected. I'm starting this blog through the advice and encouragement of my wonderful group of friends, who thought that if I could put my own story out there of living with someone who lives with MS, a few missions could possibly be accomplished: a) I could get what I'm feeling out of my own head and let it live somewhere else, thus freeing up my brain for other worthwhile projects like, say, coupon clipping, and 2) so that I could use this experience for good, to find others out there experiencing the same thing as me, and we can help each other along.

Let me close this entry by making a disclaimer: I KNOW I DON'T HAVE MS. I also know Scott has it WAY worse than I can ever imagine. I'm not pretending that my life is in any way as difficult to manage as his. My only goal here is to display--with my husband's full blessing--what it's like for someone like me to live with someone suffering from MS. I can't be the only one out there who is a bystander to this awful disease. And if you and I share the same shoes, I'm here for the chattin'. Take care. Jen