The symptoms that I experienced leading up to my MS diagnosis in May 2017.

It all started in late March 2017, when I felt extremely fatigued, experienced blurry vision, and was having symptoms of a sinus infection. Due to living in the South, I typically suffer from seasonal allergies and reoccurring sinus infections in the Spring. The first time I went to the doctor, I had the typical diagnosis of seasonal allergies and she told me to take some Claritin D and that should help me. After taking it, I didn’t feel any better, so I went back to the doctor, and she gave me a round of antibiotics. She said that it was bad sinus infection and she attributed the blurry vision to the pollen getting in my eyes and causing irritation. Pollen fell heavy this year, so a part of me wanted to believe that she was right.

The weekend of April 7th, I remember going on a trip with my cousins and friend to Atlanta for my cousin’s birthday and not having the energy to truly enjoy the festivities. When I returned home from the trip, I went to visit my Mom later that week and she told me that she had been praying for me, and God revealed to her that something was wrong and that I needed to go back to the doctor. That following week I made an appointment with my primary physician, and again I was told that I had a sinus infection and she sent me home with antibiotics. She also told me that I may want to get some eye drops to flush the pollen out of my eyes.

On April 30, 2017, my partner woke me up and proposed to me!! It was a Sunday that I will never forget!! I remember being so happy and then immediately feeling so sluggish, that all I wanted to do was retreat back to bed. Bummer, right? Thankfully, He was patient with me and we laid down for a while before visiting my family to celebrate our engagement.

In the early parts of May, I was sitting at my desk at work finishing up some task before going home for the day, and I noticed that my vision got blurrier, I had tingling in my hands and feet, and numbness on the right-side of my body. I researched the symptoms on Google and was surprised to see that those were symptoms of a stroke. I began thinking could I be having a stroke at 27 years old? Other than allergies, I had never had any major health issues. With all of this in mind, I gathered my things, called my fiance, and told him that I needed to go to the emergency room immediately.

Once I got to the emergency room and they called me to the back, I told the doctor the symptoms that I was experiencing and she told me that she didn’t believe that I had anything life threatening going on, but she was going to have me do a CT scan just to be on the safe side. Well, to her surprise, the results weren’t good. Per the CT scan, it appeared to be a mass on my right parietal lobe. Imagine that? Imagine how I felt going to the doctor repeatedly and telling them something was wrong, only to be told that it was “just” a sinus infection. I was confused and afraid, but I began praying to God immediately. I just didn’t understand. How could I just receive a promotion at work in February, get engaged in April, and receive such devastating news in May? This was not in my plans and certainly wasn’t what I considered to be fair.

After the emergency room visit, I had to follow the insurance protocols in order to see a Neurologist. Per insurance, you can only see a specialty doctor if you receive a referral from your primary physician. So that’s what I did. I prayed to God and asked him to point me in the direction of a “new” primary physician and I found a new doctor who could see me immediately. On May 12th, my Dad and I walked into Dr. LuAnne Aquino’s office in Bluffton, SC , and she reviewed my results from the emergency room visit and performed a neurological examination on me. She immediately told me that she was going to call in orders for me to be admitted into St. Joseph’s Candler hospital in Savannah, GA because she had a friend and former colleague that was a surgeon working there, and he was one of the best surgeons to remove the tumor, if that’s what the mass was.

That same day, I admitted myself into St. Joseph’s Candler and began undergoing MRIs and test immediately. The doctors told me to stop taking my birth control and any medication that I was taking previously. This was the first time that I had ever been admitted into a hospital or even had a MRI done, so everything felt surreal. I believe that there was so much happening so fast that my mind was trying to keep up. To cope, I just kept calling on the name of Jesus, and my Mom would play gospel music to keep my spirit encouraged. Through it all, my support system (my family, fiance, and friends) remained solid and never left my side. We did not know what to expect, but everyone remained HOPEFUL and never stopped praying. I remember spending Mother’s Day in the hospital this year.

After 3 days in the hospital, it was determined that I had MS per the MRI, but the doctor wanted to perform a spinal tap to verify that I had MS antibodies in my spinal fluid. He also started me on a steroid IV treatment to reduce inflammation and help with the MS flare. A couple days later, the results came back from the spinal tap, and it verified the MS diagnosis. I was in the hospital for a total of 9 days.

This is just the beginning of my journey navigating through life with MS. Over the course of 4 years, I would have some highs and lows, but with God, I am still standing and able to tell my story. The purpose of this blog is to encourage you all to take your health serious and to listen to your intuition (I call it the Holy Spirit/God) when you know that something is wrong. Overall, it is your responsibility to take accountability for your life and health. Yes, we have medical professionals to help guide us with our health, but we can’t put the responsibility solely on them. We have to be more mindful of the foods that we eat, our water intake, our spiritual and mental health, and how often we exercise. The “small” things that we may not think makes a difference in our well being, ultimately make a difference.