i had my follow-up appt with my neurologist today! they went over my spinal MRI, and there were definite MS lesions present, none of which were active. So my diagnosis is official, and they had me sign paperwork to request coverage for MS medication from my insurance. I decided to go with Tecfidera and hopefully my insurance won’t give me too much trouble with it, since it is included in their covered medications list, it’s just not necessarily their #1 preferred MS medication (that’s Copaxone, just in case u were wondering). I asked my dr a bunch of questions & he reassured me multiple times that it’s not a misdiagnosis & that nothing else could be causing my individual set of symptoms. He did request that a repeat blood panel be done, mostly for my peace of mind & to confirm the previous results, and offered to set me up with an appointment for a spinal tap. But tbh I don’t want a giant freakin’ needle in my back, so I declined!
the dr said my prognosis is good considering they caught it at a relatively early point in the progression of the disease, but I do definitely have nerve damage and lagging reflexes in my lower legs, particularly the right. In fact after doing varying nerve & reflex tests, the attending physician & the neuro resident determined that my right side in general has sustained the brunt of the previous attack’s damage, as even my right arm & side are displaying less sensitivity and reactivity. Not a whole lot - the dr said it’s incredibly subtle, but still important to have in my chart for the sake of future comparisons to determine the disease progression. bb (my daughter) went with me to the appt and she was super polite and patient the entire time, even though we were out for like 5 hrs total. one of the nurses commented that “she looks like a baby princess!” and my daughter scoffed and said “I’m not a princess, I’m a superhero!” 😂
I’m still not thrilled abt the whole deal but I’m becoming more accepting, mostly bc i don’t really have a choice but also bc i’m pretty confident that i can perpetually kick my MS’s ass for the rest of my life. i’m gonna have to take a leaf out of bb’s book and just be my own superhero.