Natalie - I'm sorry your dx was so rough on you. I hope that something so wonderful will happen next Sept. 6 that it will make you forget that anniversary.

I've been dx 5 years now. I don't remember the exact day the dr. told me but I do know I had a major flare in Aug. '05 and it took months to recup. At that time, they felt it was an isolated case. By 12/31/05, yes New Year's Eve, I started to have new symptoms crop up. It was within the next week or so that I received a definite dx. Was I relieved? I don't know. In a way, yes because I had a name for all these weird things that had been going on for a few years and now knew that the lesions were MS lesions and not from a headache or virus or something like that. On the other hand, no. It was changing my life in a way I was not prepared for. Although, in hindsight, some of those changes were actually really good changes.

All in all, I know that I could have been diagnosed with something far worse and I always remind myself of that. At one point they were thinking I had a nerve tumor in my spine - not cool!!! I know of others who have received far worse dx than me and in a way I am thankful it is only MS, despite the challenges it presents.