He didn’t get up or even extend a hand across the desk for comfort. He simply nodded. “Well, the good news—if there is any—is that pregnancy can alleviate the symptoms of MS for a while. But I don’t want you thinking the diagnosis must have been wrong. It isn’t.”
“Is there any medication I should be taking?”
“Not yet. I’ll let your neurologist and Dr. Ingalls decide what to prescribe and when.”
“Will I ever be able to dance again?”
“You’ll probably be able to waltz, depending on how you feel. But anything more strenuous than that may become progressively more difficult. What you have is relapsing-remitting MS or RRMS.”
She made herself concentrate on his words, despite her mind’s desire to wander off on its own.
“RRMS is characterized by clearly defined attacks of new or increasing neurologic symptoms. These attacks—also called relapses or exacerbations—are followed by periods of partial or complete recovery called remissions. During remissions, all or most of your symptoms may disappear. However, there is no apparent progression of the disease during the periods of remission. Approximately 85 percent of people with MS are initially diagnosed with RRMS. So you have the most common type.”
“Yay, me,” she muttered sarcastically.
He sighed. “I’m sorry. If you have any questions at all, you can call me, but I think working with your neurologist will be more important going forward.”
“I’m okay. I think it’s just the shock of it all.”
“I’ll get a nurse to help you out.”
Misty felt as if she were walking through a fog as she was escorted to her next appointment. She latched onto Julie as they walked through the waiting room. After she’d made it through the new waiting room, the nurse she was handed off to made her stop at the restroom and give a urine sample.
She hadn’t gone to her gynecologist in the suburbs for a few years, so when she was making appointments for everything else under the sun, she took the nurse’s advice and scheduled that too. By the time the appointment rolled around, she’d been experiencing nausea, and her always reliable period was absent.
Misty didn’t smile or answer some question she barely heard, and Julie frowned. “What’s the matter?”
“Oh, you know…MS, new mysterious symptoms, the whole nine,” she said as she changed into the hospital gown.
“You definitely have MS?”
Misty nodded.
Julie stood there with her mouth hanging open for a moment. “What new mysterious symptoms?”
“Nausea. And I should have gotten my period by now. My internist didn’t want to commit to anything, so he’s letting Dr. Tingles give me the news.”
Her friend remained quiet for once.
A pretty redhead in a white lab coat entered the room and introduced herself as Dr. Ingalls. Misty had to remind herself not to add the T to her name—ever! She had Julie stick her nose in a magazine during the internal exam, but it was over quickly.
Her gynecologist confirmed the bombshell Dr. Warren had dropped earlier by saying, “You’re pregnant. Congratulations! That means I’m your new best friend.”
Julie’s eye rounded, but she quickly hid behind the magazine again.
“I’ll let you get dressed, and I’ll be back in a few minutes. I’ll prescribe some prenatal vitamins, but you shouldn’t take anything else unless you check with me first,” the doctor said as she whipped off her exam gloves and tossed them into the trash bin.
Now Misty lay on a cold exam table in nothing but a hospital gown. “How the hell did this happen?” she asked in a trembling voice.
Julie’s eyes widened. “Um, you don’t know? Well, when a man and a woman like each other very much—”
“Shut up.” Misty draped an arm over her face as she lay on the exam table. Tears were leaking out of the corners of her eyes.
I have multiple sclerosisandI’m pregnant. How the hell do I deal with this?
Since her feet were still in the stirrups, Julie patted Misty’s bent knee. “Cheer up, Mist. It could be worse.”
“How?”
