Too hot, baby...

It's been too long, hasn't it? The heat is only one of my excuses. I saw my neurologist July 3rd and that has led to multiple adventures. I wanted him to know about this 2007 downturn in my abilities: too many falls, literally no leg to stand on.

Like a good scientist, he wants to investigate. He ordered an MRI and two blood tests.

Like a typical patient, I just want to cope better. I asked him to sign paperwork for Metro Mobility (the local paratransit service) and an evaluation for an electric wheelchair.

He: Isn't that what you're in?
Me: No.
He: What's this called?
Me: An electric scooter?
He: What's the difference?

The important difference, I hope, is that I can drive the car from a wheelchair, rather than having to transfer to the driver's seat. I was somewhat appalled that the neurologist didn't know what I was talking about, though. He clearly doesn't understand my life. He signed the papers, though.

I showed up for the MRI and they told me I would need to walk across the room six times. I told them that I'd mentioned to the scheduler that I couldn't walk. There was no one there who could help, so they sent me away, telling me the patient advocate would try to find some place I could get an MRI.

Next MRI scheduler (on the phone): I understand you can't lie down and you need an MRI.
Me: No. I can't walk and I need an MRI.
She: We have a wheelchair you can take into the MRI room and then you just need to transfer to the MRI.
Me: Is there anyone there who can help if I have trouble with the transfer?
(silence)
She: Can you bring someone? I have a bad back and the other person here is pregnant.

My husband, Ralph, took the morning off work and lifted me back and forth from the wheelchair to the MRI several times so I could get the three-hour scan (head, neck and spine).

The MRI showed no change.

I haven't heard yet about the blood tests.

Meanwhile, the temperature has been in the eighties and nineties (fahrenheit) and MS does not do well in heat. My doctor put it succinctly on the Metro Mobility application: Heat up-arrow; Ability down-arrow.

By the time I get home from work and take the dog for a walk, I'm exhausted and my hands don't work to type with. Hence the lack of blog posts and lack of any art or writing activity, too. I'm disgusted.

What disgusts me more than my inactivity is my penchant for whining about everything, and here I am doing it in (sorta) public. This is accomplishing what, now?

Pardon me while I put down the blog, pick up my manuscript, and get some editing done.