Many readers of this blog already know, but for those that are new or those folks we haven’t contacted yet, Katie (most likely) has Multiple Sclerosis (or MS…as all the cool kids call it).
Katie had been suffering from numbness in her legs and feet a couple of weeks ago, and we thought it was just a pinched nerve or something in her back. She went to the chiropractor for an adjustment and he said that he wanted an MRI to check to see if she had slipped a disc, possibly while giving birth to Ethan.
When the MRI came back, the radiologist just happened to notice a “small lesion”. From what I understand this was a miracle, because the doctor was looking in the lumbar portion of the spine for signs of a slipped disc, and this lesion was in the mid-spine, and the MRI just happened to pick up the last couple of vertebrae of the mid-spine…where the tip of this lesion showed up. At that point the doctor said is was either a tumor or an MS lesion….most likely MS.
Katie had a second MRI yesterday – a complete brain and spinal scan. This took almost three hours.
The neurologist called first thing this morning and told Katie that that lesion was the only one! Which means we caught this very early.
To quote Katie, “There’s nothing in my brain.”
To which I responded, “Well, we both knew that.”
Katie laughed and I gave her a big hug.
We still have to see the neurologist tomorrow and get the official diagnosis, but most likely the lesion is MS ( AND NOT A TUMOR !!!) and we (by God’s amazing grace) found out what seems to be very early. This disease is not curable (yet) but quite treatable.
There is so much info out there about MS, but if you’re like me you have no idea what exactly it is. I started my research here, and we will be posting new info about the disease and Katie’s progress.
But for now, we are so thankful to our Heavenly Father for having sovereign control over this situation, and to our friends and family that immediately wrapped their arms around us and have offered to help us in every way possible.
The numbness in Katie’s legs has pretty much gone for now, but she’s pretty sore. Other than that, life is normal and we will know more tomorrow when we talk to the specialist, but for now, we just need prayer. And we ask that along with prayers for healing, that you offer prayers of praise to God for allowing us to catch this disease so early. We are truly blessed.
And as Katie and I laughed through the tears the last couple of days, she said, “Well, if I’m going to get an auto-immune disease, MS is the one to get.”
(Now I don’t know what that means, but because Katie is smarter and funnier than I am and laughing when she said it, I just followed along and laughed with her.)