Ann

When Ann was thirty years old, she noticed that her walking began to bother her while working. In a few days, Ann could not walk and went to the hospital where she was diagnosed with MS. She regained the ability to walk after a course of intravenous steroids and returned to work. After relapse, Ann was concerned about having children, but was cleared by her doctors to become pregnant. During both of her pregnancies, she had mild flare-ups, but her symptoms resolved after the births. Over the years, Ann’s flareups impacted her vision and decreased her ability to focus and read. She has taken cortisone to treat these flareups, but she has never taken any other medicine, nor was she offered any other medicine to treat her MS symptoms. Currently, Ann’s symptoms include eye issues that come and go, and incontinence. Ann has been using catheters to manage her incontinence for close to 30 years and feels fortunate that Medicare provides them so that she can use a new one every time. Ann also experiences fatigue and some difficulty walking.

Ann worked for the government in community corrections for over thirty years helping released prisoners integrate into supportive environments. Ann was reluctant to tell people about her MS because she worried that they would use it to deny her advances at work. Ann did not tell people at her work because she didn’t want to be seen differently in her workplace.

When Ann first received her diagnosis, she expected to become crippled and die soon or die prematurely. However, she wishes that she had known from the beginning that many people do have easier times with MS than she was expecting. Ann feels that her MS is part of her, part of who she is but not a big part or not an important part most of the time. Ann believes that the most important and the hardest part of an MS diagnosis is dealing with uncertainty. Ann is surprised to be as old as she is because she never expected to get there. She sees herself as someone who has had an interesting career, done some great things, been in some interesting places. Ann notes that “it has been a good life, in spite of the MS, or because of it, or who knows.” Now, Ann is retired, very happy and content.

Ann is also diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) unrelated to her MS. Generally, she uses a cane or walker to walk outside because she has to carry her oxygen equipment and purse which is just too much to carry.