MS, the rent is too damn high & 127 Hours

I would like to visit a couple of topics today. 

#1) My latest visit with my neurologist:(Who looks just like Woody Allen) 


I promised myself that I wouldn't blog about my MS too often because I really try not to dwell on it and let MS become the focal point of my life. The only good piece of advice my very first neurologist gave me was to avoid large meetings with other MSers because they often morphed into group pity parties, with everyone telling their "woe is me" stories. His other advise was for me to eliminate all the "stress" from my life. I'm thinking to myself: "My commute to New York City is 2 hours each way, I'm a Wall Street commodity broker, I'm married, I own a home, I have three children. Which one of these stresses can I erase?" 

The Rent Is...

I couldn't move closer to the city, because as Jimmy Mcmillan sez (Click to hear) and I didn't think that quitting my job and walking out on my wife and kids was a good idea.










So fast forward 13 years to my latest semi annual visit. I was a little apprehensive because there had been talk at my last appointment about changing my treatment to a different type of drug. It is typical for MS to change form over time and some treatments become less effective. The two drugs that we talked about are both given intravenously every 3 months, so no more weekly  self-administered intramuscular injections, but one is brand new and the other can only be administered for 2 years. With one there is a risk of incurable brain infection and the other can cause damage to the heart. 

Not My Brain

But since no new activity was found after reviewing my MRI scans I will stay on my same medications and suffer through those damn shots. (More of that later in this blog.)*











So now on to the topic #2). 
It is our custom on Friday night  to have homemade pizza and watch a movie. Well the pizza was more awesome than usual and we watched one of the most INTENSE movies I have ever seen. We watched "127 Hours." (Click for trailer) If you have seen it, you'll know what I mean when I say that was a good thing we ate the pizza early in the movie before THAT scene. And you know the scene I'm talking about.
*Oh yes, my comment about those MS shots, well I will never ever ever think of them as painful again. If some body could do that to themselves .........