Elaine

Elaine started having neck problems and numb arms after an accident on a water slide. She was initially dismissed by doctors and told she was a hypochondriac; to this day, Elaine sometimes feels scared to bring issues to her doctor because she never wants to be asked if she’s a hypochondriac. She eventually went to a different neurologist who thought she could have MS, but did not definitively diagnose her. A year later, Elaine got an MRI of her neck which came back clear. A few years after her child was born, Elaine lost sight in one of her eyes and went to an eye doctor who treated her with steroids. A year later, her eye blacked out again and this time she was diagnosed with MS. The neurologist she saw at the time didn’t think she should start a medication so Elaine went on with her life. A few years later she started to feel like she couldn’t take long walks anymore and told some friends about her MS for the first time. Previously, Elaine had felt ashamed and afraid to talk about her MS; when she was first diagnosed, she also thought she might be contagious. 

When Elaine got pregnant again, several people told her she would “ruin (her) health” but Elaine ended up feeling better than she had in a long time and didn’t have any episodes during her pregnancy. Though she is a “very energetic, go get them person”, she started listening to her body and resting when she was tired which helped with her weakness. Sometimes Elaine’s legs will get numb after she’s been sitting for a long period of time or heavy if she walks too much. She loves the sun even though it can worsen her symptoms so she knows she has to jump in a pool or freeze some washcloths in advance if she is going to be outside in the warm weather. Elaine’s job as a marketer of food and liquor samples involves standing for long periods of time at events so she will bring ice packs and pace herself if the events are outdoors. She has trouble dancing because of her balance issues which makes her sad, but she still enjoys doing aquacise. 

Elaine gets support from her brother who also has MS and her sister who is a doctor and helps explain medical information. She compares MS to “elevator music, you know it’s there, but are you going to acknowledge it? No. It just, it’s there.” Elaine takes MS day by day and is grateful for what she has in life: “(MS) doesn’t have me. I have it, and I’m in control... sometimes it’s a battle of being in that disease, but I’m always going to win, and that’s it.”