Maybe her doc feels that if the steroids work, she'll keep the function she has for a while longer.

It's my understanding the PPMS is a distinctly different disease. It's all downhill from the start. With RRMS,SRMS, it's ups and downs. With SPMS you get to a point where you have no remission. With PRMS, there are a few relapses with or without remission.

Maybe Mom didn't call the doc because he told her she had PPMS and she figured that there was nothing that could be done for her anyway.

How one reacts when doing the steroids is an individual thing. I drove myself back and forth each day to do the IVSM, went to work for the two days I had left that week as scheduled, and the only problem I had was that I stayed up for about 80 hours before I slept.

Here's a link to the explanation of the different diseases and stages from the NMSS: http://www.nationalmssociety.org/liv...ase/index.aspx