Hi and welcome to MS Strength. My name is Jen and this is my multiple sclerosis website. I feel like living with MS is so complicated that sometimes I need to write about my frustrations, my worries, my discoveries, as well as about my victories and great moments. And there are a lot of great moments. This website is not meant to be a source for a lot of self-pitying. I realize that some people with MS have far easier courses than mine, and many have far worse. This is more for logging the ups and downs of having the disease which I’m sure, if you have it, you know all about. It’s also for you, the reader, to relate and comment with your own stories, whether they are similar or far different. And it’s for the loved ones of those with multiple sclerosis, because they are also strapped in for the roller coaster ride, whether they like it or not. Bless them!
***Have a look around: Categories are to the right of this home page. Hope you can relate and that you find some of this information helpful. Although we are all different with our individual conditions, we are all united in the MS experience.***
About my Multiple Sclerosis
I am a 43 year old woman who has had MS for over 16 years. I believe myself to be the “average” patient, at least statistically. I realize there is no exact standard for this disease, since it varies so much from patient to patient. Nevertheless, I am female (in the majority), the disease started in my late twenties (very common decade for onset), I have the relapsing/remitting variety (the most common type), and at the present time I have a moderate course of the disease…. I’ve also managed over five years relapse-free– until quite recently– possibly due to my taking one of the disease-modifying medications. However, I still have day-to-day symptoms and struggles, much like other patients.
About my Education and Career
I have a BA in English and have worked in the health/public service fields for more than a decade. For two years I was an Americorps service worker (considered the domestic Peace Corps), where I worked in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity, Meals on Wheels, and Adopt a Highway, and I provided services at a local food bank and area soup kitchens. One of my favorite affiliations was with a county park, where we helped maintain their greenhouse and planted a large flower garden for the public.
I then trained and became a registered ultrasound technologist, because aside from writing, I’m very fascinated with the health sciences and I like helping people. I worked full-time for several years, and did a “stat” call after hours for a local rehab hospital. Loved the senior patients there. At this point my MS symptoms were becoming more apparent, although I still didn’t know exactly what was going on. I was fatigued so I reduced my hours to part-time and this seemed to help. But I knew in my heart that this fast-paced, on-my-feet career would eventually wear me out.
At this point I began to volunteer at an area library. I absolutely loved it. This field seemed to marry two of my biggest passions: helping people locate creative works. They hired me as an assistant and I was there for about two years, but I had my first big attack— double vision in my left eye for eight weeks. Eventually I stopped working outside of the home and I did seasonal telecommuting work through a vocational rehabilitation program for two years, helping people find and order forms and publications through the Internal Revenue Service.
More recently I’ve contributed articles to South Jersey Mom’s health section and I’m a former feature columnist for the Suite101.com’s Women’s Health section. My last online work for EMD Serono pharmaceuticals involved writing and videotaping segments about my life with MS for their website: www.HowIFightMS.com. I’ve worked part-time and interned at a local mental health agency for nearly three years now, as I complete a graduate social work program (MSW) in order to aid people with disabilities on a more professional level.
