I found a letter my Mom wrote back in 1960 (do the math, 50 years ago). Don't know if it was a rough draft or one she never sent. It includes details that I didn't know about what happened when I was 7 years old. Here is an excerpt:

"In Sept. of 1957, we were returning from the doctor's office where I was treated for an ear infection. Bill blacked out, the car went off the road, ruined the car--we only got bruises, but from then till the first week in Oct. , Bill had trouble driving and paralysis of his left arm & side of his face.

"He went into the V.A. Hosp. and was there nearly all of Oct., Nov., Dec. His nerves were pretty bad after that from all the tests and from the knowledge of what they decided his trouble was.

"They said it is Multiple Sclerosis. His main trouble now is just extreme tiredness and a leg that jumps all nite. He has no paralysis now. We hope that's as far as the disease will progress. He is able to work, though work hasn't been too plentiful lately. He still does radio and TV repair, and manages to get 4 or so days a week."

He was 39. Thanks, Mom.

You mean you didn't know?? Is he or Mom still living? Were either of them living when you were DXed?

I'm sorry, I wasn't clear. I knew he had MS (we called it his "problem") You didn't want your employer to know that stuff, back in the day.

But I didn't know the details, or the time frame. I didn't know he had paralysis, etc. It puts a lot of things into perspective.

Through the mercy of God, neither of my parents ever knew I had MS. Dad died in 1998 (of COPD, still going up and down stairs under his own steam 3 days before he died) and Mom died in 2000. I started having symptoms around then, but they were random and I never considered them indicative of anything but being human.

I didn't start chasing a diagnosis until a couple years after Mom died.