Two more reviews, and Day 5 of the WEGO health prompt

Day 5: The Ekphrasis Post. Go to flickr.com and write a post inspired by the image... link it to your health focus ... post the image.

I found at that page Rodin's sculpture, The Farewell. and wrote what elicited this initial reaction/post from me:

I can't post the image, as it is noted "All rights reserved."  But I have linked it here for you:
 "The Farewell" by Rodin (sculpture)


The eyes appear to be looking to the left, indicating a memory. The hands seem to be repressing a spoken thought, remembering something that ought not be shared. It's a pensive pose, and one suggesting some confusion. The word "enigma" is titling the post of this image.

I use the word enigma in my book title, Multiple Sclerosis an Enigma. It is a diagnosis that leaves one with only unknowns, and regrets for having sought an answer but having found only more questions. I was my doctor's enigma, a patient with a great deal of clinical evidence of the disease but showing few visible symptoms, and no acceptance of what science pronounced as true.

I've often written in my journal of the losses brought to me with this diagnosis. My reaction to the treatment prescribed was negative, prompting unwanted feelings of present and future losses, beginning with the loss of energy (fatigue), organizational skills (depression related) and anxiety (also depression related.) These losses led to the loss of my career (public school teacher) and my self image (30 years of successful teaching and collegiality.) My loss of my classroom created a void in my social contacts, loss of my partners and their wit and wisdom. I might well have, at times, taken the pose of Rodin's sculpture.

So, to turn this post from negative to positive, I will offer you other reactions: those of readers of my book!

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There are two more reviews posted at Amazon for Multiple Sclerosis an Enigma:


From "Hot Toddy", an author whose own book shares the story of an MS diagnosis and path:

As avid readers know, the quality of books in the literary landscape has changed, but Multiple Sclerosis, an Enigma by Author Terry Crawford Palardy renews our appreciation for the written word. Author Palardy skillfully composed a well-written book and conveyed a story of compassion and resilience for her respected readers.

As a former teacher herself, Author Palardy did not ask the reader to overlook typos, or disregard poor sentence structure. Instead, the book is a well-formatted, fluid glimpse into the sometimes challenging, always endearing family she so eloquently introduces to us.

We learn who the self-described author and her family are, not by what she says, but by what they do. She doesn't tell us within quotes, that she and her spouse love their parents instead she tells us that they visited them daily, sacrificed their own finances, yet continue to smile when visited by a memory of their now dearly departed parents. Her wonderful husband doesn't spout I love you's either, rather the author tells us that he carries her purse without hesitation. In addition, she doesn't 'tell' us that she's a dedicated teacher, but she tells the willful doctor that she's happy to see him...anytime outside of school hours. We experience the compassion and commitment that exists within this family from the deeds so proficiently, yet humbly described.

Yes, there is talk of doctors, diseases, diets and medications, but it's framed so very well in a magnificent family photo.

Multiple Sclerosis, an Enigma, is a story of unconditional love shared over decades between generations of two families joined by a marriage strengthened from reverence to their marital vows.

It's a worthy investment for the serious reader who will immediately share this title when asked, "Have you read any good books lately?"


From Faye, another friend who shares the diagnosis of MS: 

Amazing! As I read along, I felt I was walking right beside her. In the story you could see that she was sticking to her recollections of symptoms throughout her life starting at an early age. And as I stated to her, I wonder also, were her family members misdiagnosed and had MS as well. We will never know. I felt comfortable walking beside Terry through her journey as I felt she had my heart in hand. I admired her for many years, but now is "special" to me! Quite brave to share such intimate details along this struggle we all experience in the Dragon of MS.

I recommend to all with MS and friends/family of someone suffering from MS!

Beautiful Read!

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Related articles

• Educational Resources Uncovered: Multiple Sclerosis (abledis.com)
• Recovering from multiple sclerosis with nutrition (mnn.com)

For the month of April, I've renewed the discount at CreateSpace for Multiple Sclerosis an Enigma. To receive 35% off the regular price, go to this link:

https://www.createspace.com/3711313 

and enter this discount code at the checkout: VXXURQMH

WEGO Health Prompt Day 4: Why I write about my health

 Why do I write about my health? The answer to that question has changed through the years, as has my health.

In the years prior to diagnosis, I wrote more about my parents' health. They both experienced difficult health issues during the last two decades of their lives: a pacemaker for one, a new hip for the other, failing eyesight with age, cancer surgery for both, and then Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. I kept track of their symptoms, prescriptions, appointments (with my husband's help) ... I was their health proxy, and so I was in contact with their doctors (with my sister's help) ... and what symptoms I had myself took a back seat until their issues brought closure to their lives.

And then I wrote of my symptoms, fully expecting to follow my parents' path toward Parkinson's Disease. But along the way diagnostic tests, appointments, doctors' names and my own health proxy (my husband) became the topics in my journal. The completion of those tests led to the diagnosis of relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis. It was not what I'd anticipated, but it was what I got. And with it, I was given a prescription for a disease modifying drug, but no cure.

My journal entries darkened with anger, and trembled with frustration, anxiety, and fear. How could I have multiple sclerosis? No one I knew had ever had this diagnosis. How could I give myself an injection each night? How could I ask my husband, who had managed his own parents' illnesses, involving cancer, blindness, COPD and depression, as well as assisting with all my parents' care ... how could I ask  him now to help me?  How could I go into my classroom each day for another six years, and finish my career on my feet, with the dignity I'd worked so hard to preserve?

My writing helped me to realize that my disagreement with this diagnosis might be disputed by scientific evidence ... the lesions were there ... but my inner self believed that the diagnosis was wrong, and so the treatment was wrong. It was horribly expensive, and though I had a good insurance policy and paid only a small fraction of the thousands of dollars it cost each month, I knew that policy holders' premiums were going up each year, as was the price of my medication. I felt it was unnecessary; I felt it was wrong; I feared that, if it was wrong, it could be causing more damage rather than repairing anything. It made only vague promises of perhaps slowing the progression by 30%, but no guarantee for any one patient. And it interacted with my immune system, which worried me.

I was experiencing no relapses, but I attributed that to my change in menu and my loss of fifty excess pounds, the resulting lowered blood pressure and better energy levels. But through the four and a half years of this treatment, I became more depressed and more fearful of what it might be doing, and writing out those fears, and explaining with written words those disagreements and my rationale for them, I was able to make the decision to follow my heart and discontinue the treatments.

Had I not written my story, I may not have had the courage to follow my beliefs. I am no longer taking the injections with their prohibitive financial costs ... I no longer feel like a fraud carrying a diagnosis that didn't seem real, and I am feeling better each day. I recently walked five miles to raise money for MS research, and I have no reason to stop doing that.

Some say my feeling better is simply a placebo effect; I want to believe that I am better without the injections, and so I believe I am feeling better. But I say perhaps it was my own belief that the medication was doing me harm that made me weaken while taking it, and so not taking it has relieved that burden of worry, depression and anxiety that I had taken on myself. Who is to say whether they or I am right or wrong?

The experts in the study of multiple sclerosis are also conflicted; the assumption that treating the immune system will slow the progression is now being disputed not just by patients like me, but by doctors who are saying this may be a metabolic issue rather than an immune disorder; it may be related to the nutrients needed for healthy mitochondria, in which case my healthier diet was the right choice to make, and that is a validating statement for me. Vitamin D is finally being discussed more openly rather than being left unaddressed.

I will stay in the seven year Parkinson's Disease risk study with the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, if they will have me. There is some question as to whether my current prescription of anti-depressant will conflict with their protocol of testing, and so I may not be able to participate until I have been able to stop that medication. I will write about that in the weeks to come. If I am in their study group, their testing will show any indicators of Parkinson's Disease earlier than might be known if not in the study group. And contrary as it sounds, that medication treatment is one I would willingly take, in an effort to study its efficacy and benefit future generations of my family, and beyond.

I will continue to walk for MS, because I can. And in time I will begin to walk for Parkinson's Disease fundraising, for as long as I can. I still believe that is what lies ahead in my future. The tremors that I experience resemble those of my mother and father. Time will be the judge of whether that, too, is right or wrong.

Related articles

• Parkinson's Awareness Month (spittoon.23andme.com)
• Turmeric Proven Effective at Preventing Parkinson's Disease (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)
• Tips to Help Parkinson's Patients Move Through a Freezing Episode (everydayhealth.com)
• Recognizing the Progression of Parkinson's Disease Symptoms (everydayhealth.com)

For the month of April, I've renewed the discount at CreateSpace for Multiple Sclerosis an Enigma. To receive 35% off the regular price, go to this link:

https://www.createspace.com/3711313 

and enter this discount code at the checkout:VXXURQMH

Stories of Families, Love, and Loss

A Happy Story of Adoption

 Paul Jansen has written a joyous story of adoption, and he has written it as a read-aloud story. The Child in Our Hearts is a sweet story of parenting. Paul has created a story of love, and the illustrations of Kevin Scott Gierman,with their soft colors and gentle strokes, fit the bill perfectly.

A beginning sight reader would be thrilled to read this book back to his or her parents, and in time, a non-reader would use the context of the illustrations to begin reading along. This book definitely offers a positive family activity together.  Five Stars for this poignant book.

A Sad Story of Life Interrupted

Chris Tatevosian has written a sensitive  memoir, true to his life and to his discoveries, and to his determination to share his mistakes with the purpose of helping others to avoid the same. Life Interrupted: It's Not All About Me is a book that looks like a quick read, but in fact leads readers to stop and ponder the story behind the story.

This is the story of a young man's diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis, his friendships, his loves, his challenges, mistakes and regrets. Chris shares openly his love and loss, and he credits that loss to the effects MS has had on his life. He refers to the "Poor Me Attitude" and its domination of his emotions and behaviors during the time of greatest MS fatigue; afternoons and evenings are most difficult for people with MS, and they are hours usually reserved for important family time. Chris found his strengths gone during those hours, and his weaknesses limiting his ability to be loving towards those he loved most, his wife and step-son. The resulting divorce: devastating.

Chris recognizes that MS is not the only chronic condition that can cause life-changing events. Any condition that causes physical pain and emotional loss has a depressing power over an individual's choices.  Chris wrote this book after realizing how his own choices may have been better controlled and could have resulted in very different outcomes in his life. His choice to share this story with others is purposeful. He wants to help others maintain control of their choices and happier outcomes. Five Stars for this honest, worthwhile tale. 

Related articles

• Multiple sclerosis study documents negative effect of warmer weather on cognition (sciencedaily.com)
• MS Kills Connection > (prweb.com)
• How Modern Life Can Affect Your Relationships(blogs.webmd.com)
• Have No Fear, Love Is Here...Right? (letterstolittleman.com)

Peace, Love, and All That Other Hippie Crap Blog!

I'm excited to have been invited to another blog. Kathleen Walker shares my concerns with the treatments for immune disorders, and so she interviewed me about my career change from teacher to self-publishing writer, and specifically, about Multiple Sclerosis an Enigma. You can visit her blog and read the interview there. Here is an excerpt to whet your appetite:
Kathleen: Some meds work one day, and the next they do not. I continue to take the cocktail of shots and pills daily, but I understand you have changed your treatment plan.  Do you see any hope that the mystery of autoimmune diseases will be solved anytime in the near future?

Terry: I am reading of many other choices, explained by many other voices advocating for patient education and patient support rather than just diagnosis and prescriptions.  I am living a change right now, having stopped the medication that I believed was pushing me deeper into depression. My course of disease is said to be benign (for now) and unpredictable ahead. I am taking good care of myself in terms of nutrition, and almost as well in terms of exercise. I will follow the research and share what I learn at my blog. Many respectable researchers are now questioning the "faulty immune system" theory of multiple sclerosis, leaning instead towards viewing it as a metabolic issue, dietary in its base, and rapidly increasing in numbers due to the typical North American menu.

I am a history teacher (among other subjects) and I know that American medicine has come far, but it is important to remember, with humility, its beginnings. Leeches for bloodletting, amputation, and lack of effective hygiene were the cause of many deaths during the civil war. Keeping patients in dirty, closed quarters led to complications then untreatable. Elizabeth Blackwell and Dorothea Dix brought fresh air, sunshine, and clean sheets to hospital beds long before doctors and researchers could see and understand microscopic bacteria. "If we do not learn from the past, we are doomed to repeat it," is often quoted. Medicine as a culture has to learn from the past. What we think is right today may be laughed at in the future. It is humbling to think that way, but it is honest.

My background is in education, not medicine. Injecting myself every night for four and a half years with a solution that burned and caused swelling, a solution that crossed my blood brain barrier and entered the central nervous system to act as a decoy and perhaps interrupt and capture some of the immune system's cells to keep them from harming the myelin around the nerves frightened me into a depression that required medical help to escape. Yet my doctors persisted in their belief that this was a good treatment for me. I didn't have the courage to speak up and tell them that I disagreed with their medical education. Many patients accept the doctor's education and training as a guarantee that it is right. People believed the doctors who applied leeches knew what they were doing. It is my belief that people can self-assess if given the freedom to do so. That is my purpose in publishing this book.

Remember, if you are looking for the February Birthday Discount on Multiple Sclerosis an Enigma, visit Create Space and enter this discount code ND67VUCJ to receive 50% off.

Related articles

• Diagnostic Breakthrough in Multiple Sclerosis with FONAR UPRIGHT MRI Leads to Noninvasive Treatment that Results in Symptoms of MS Patient Subsiding (prweb.com)
• Have we been looking at Multiple Sclerosis all wrong? [Multiple Sclerosis] (io9.com)
• Is Multiple Sclerosis hereditary? (zocdoc.com)

Another Review of Multiple Sclerosis an Enigma, and one of a Short Story, too!

February Book Discount: Go to CreateSpace to enter the discount code ND67VUCJ and you will receive a 50% price discount on Multiple Sclerosis an Enigma. This offer expires at the end of February, so don't wait too long to order your co py of my book!

Another Review of Multiple Sclerosis an Enigma

written by Keisha, a Facebook Friend, on February 6, 2012

Image via WikipediaThis book was very encouraging and at the same time it made me want to cry because I could not imagine living with so much pain. Then I read how blessed you are to have a wonderful supportive husband who stood behind you. I also enjoyed reading about your childhood. This truly was one of the best books I have ever read and I think I may read it again. I never understood MS and what people had to go through and how much their life changed once they are diagnosed with it. You are truly a phenomenal woman and I truly look forward to reading more from you. 

If you do not mind I would love to help promote your book on my Facebook page encouraging others to buy this book. I have been talking about your book to my family so much that I have them ordering your book. I love how your book flows and it kept me wanting to know what happened next.

I recommend anyone who has not read this book to buy it. I just finished reading it and it truly made me appreciated my life because of what this author has to deal with and how she proved how strong she had to be. She did not allow herself to be so easy defeated by her diagnosis . She truly inspires and encourages others to deal with any life changing illness. So I am asking everyone to show Mrs. Terry some love and support and order her book and I promise you will be amazed at how incredible this author is.

Thank you, Keisha!

Terry's Review of a Short Story: The Red Volkswagen 

author Rosanne Dingli

five stars

Rosanne Dingli has offered us a brief glimpse into the lives of two very different people, who meet under unusual circumstance.

 We don't learn their names until the end of the story, but we do learn a lot about them. Rosanne skillfully shows rather than tells bits and pieces of the characters' personalities via dream sequences and their behaviors.

The automobile itself is a quiet prop that facilitates some of the actions and interactions.
The ending is open, allowing the reader to speculate on what may or may not result of this chance (or perhaps not so chance) meeting.

Related articles

• Multiple Sclerosis Disability (answers.com)
• Multiple Sclerosis Treatment Options (answers.com)
• Have we been looking at Multiple Sclerosis all wrong? [Multiple Sclerosis] (io9.com)
• Doctor cures her multiple sclerosis with hunter-gatherer diet (foodfreedom.wordpress.com)
• Car show & cruise in for Multiple Sclerosis (redlineboostnews.wordpress.com)