Free College Admissions Essays - MS Will Not Kill My Dream :: College Admissions Essays

MS Will Not Kill My Dream My story with MS began on December 4, 1999. I arrived at school as usual that cold winter morning feeling pretty good, a little tired, but other wise ok. Upon parking my car and opening the door to get out my right arm went to "sleep." I was totally blown away by it. How bizarre I thought to myself and just sat there a moment trying to figure out what possibly could be wrong with my arm. The next two days brought no relief and if anything it seemed to be getting more intense. My WHOLE arm was asleep and I just couldn't understand it. I visited a chiropractor a couple of days later and she said I was dehyrdrated and that my nervous system was under attack. Little did I know! I became increasingly concerned as the days passed and just couldn't buy what everyone was telling me, that I had a pinched nerve. I just knew it was something more and it was! I found a doctor about two weeks later and by that time my right hand was barely useable and the right side of my face, head and chest had also gone numb. I was scared to death! This doctor was wonderful and immediatly ran tests, sent me to a specialist, (neurologist) and spent hours with me examining me and trying to figure out just what could be wrong with me! MS never crossed my mind. A nurse of over ten years I have taken care of only ONE MS patient, a lady in her 90's! MS just didnt occur to me. After several visits to the neurologist, MRI, spinal tap and a slew of blood work I was told that MS was VERY likely the culprit. I was, to say the least, devastated by this news. I cried and cried and greived over this. It was with great fortune that a lady I worked with became extremly helpful to me during this time and prayed for me, listened to me and on more than one occasion, let me cry on her shoulder. On March 4, 2000 I visited a MS specialist at Dartmouth Hitchcock Hospital in Lebanon N.H. and he made it official that it was MS and immediatly started me on Avonex. At this point I had researched the disease endlessly, somewhat come to terms with this awful fate and began to think more positively.