Our oldest daughter was 18 months old before she could walk. Was about to give up on it!!!! But at her 2 year appointment, her pediatrician said she was speaking in paragraphs instead of short sentences. I remember her pre-kindergarten assessment when she was supposed to put the person in front of the house. It was a generic house with no windows, doors etc. Kind of like a Monopoly hotel. The teacher was sitting on the opposite side of the table as Christina. So when the teacher told her she was wrong Christina told her that on her side it was the front and she needed to come over to her side of the table.

Been a rough few weeks down here in Texas. My sister Stephanie who also lives here was diagnosed with esophageal cancer last week. she had a procedure yesterday where they determine the tumor was embedded in her esophagus so they could not remove it through endoscopy. So she is looking at radiation/chemotherapy treatments and then a very long surgery to remove part of her esophagus and upper stomach. It willinvole at the minimum a two week hospital stay and she will probably have to have a feeding tube inserted during radiology treatments that will stay in until her esophasgus swells.

The good news was the cat scan did not show any metasizing, and the doctor did not see any lymph nodes that were malingnant during the ultrasound endoscopy. She will still need a PET scan to make sure it hasn't metasized. so it looks like they caught it early. She is in for a rough time over the next several months so please keep her in her thought and prayers.

We are all in shock. Esophagus cancer is seldom found early, and therefore the survival rates are not great. Steph also does not meet the normal profile. Men over 50 who smoke and drink are most likely to get it. They typicaly have voice hoarsness, trouble swallowing, a cough ... Although the numbers are increasing in numbers due to obesity and acid reflux.

She is lucky they caught it Anya had the stomach flu twice during the fall and Steph got it both times and had some acid reflux afterwards that didn't go away. she was scheduled for a colonoscopy and the doctor decided they should do an upper too just to make sure everything was ok.

So sorry to hear this, Barb...I will definitely add Stephanie to my prayers for successful surgery and quick healing. Thank God they caught it early!

It amazes me at times how miraculous our bodies are, despite what we do (or don't do) to them...

Healing is continuing. I'm working out a few times per week; the knee is not happy about this, but too bad! I regained all of the post surgery weight I had lost. So I am trying to be mindful about what goes into my mouth. I hate wasting a good workout!

Cabin fever has hit big time...it might be a bit of seasonal depression as well. I can't seem to concentrate and I am kind of bored. We try to get out of the house occasionally (after being laid up for weeks, even going for groceries is delightful).

Hope everyone is doing well...

((((((Barb)))))). Prayers for Stephany.


My friend has that and is doing ok after 5 yrs.

I thought I would post something to see if others are interested in continuing this thread. It seems like everyone's lives must be pretty boring since there hasn't been a post for several weeks.

My news: Mys sister is in her 5th week of chemoradiation. So there is only one more week to go. She is doing fairly well. Getting more and more tired with other side effects. After she is done, she has about a 6 week recovery period and then surgery. The surgery is a rough one and she will be in the ICU for a few days and then in the hospital for at least a week. After that she will have to be on a feeding tube for at least two more weeks, if not longer. Recovery will take months and she will have to relearn how to eat.

Progress on my house is continuing. The frame is up and siding was mostly done. Windows are in. Hope they can continue to work on the inside this week while it rains.

We are under a tornado watch right now. There have been tornado warnings north of here. It looks like there may be storms all week

I have been busy hanging out with sister, doing things with my niece, and serving as chauffeur for both.

As far as my MS goes, I have't seen a neurologist since October 2014. I really didn't like the one I saw and haven't tried to find another. As long as it seems stable, I am just avoiding it. I will probably try to find another one next fall, unless I need to go before then.

So how are all of you? What's been going on in "your neck of the woods?"

Nice to hear from you Barb. I pray things will continue to go well for your sister.
And for you and your MS, as well.

Life is not going so well for me. I'm in a Nursing/retirement home now and I
Hate it. Down in the dumps and just all around not feeling well or chipper, so
I'm not checking in with my witty repartee much lately, but I read all the time
And still enjoy hearing from you all.

This place has slowed down considerably. I guess peeps are bored or something?

Be well.

Barb, what kind of surgery is your sister having??? Tornados and just a framed house don't sound like they go very well together. Hope your house does well in the storms. Hope you do well in the storms!

Nothing much happening here. My husband ulcerative colitis has us kind of tied to the house. We don't like that. We are used to traveling to our oldest daughter's house about every 2 months. Heck, we can't even drive to louisville, Ky to meet them 3/4 way anymore. I presently am on my 3rd week of a sinus infection but just got some nasal steroids and a different antibiotic today and am going to have a cat scan of them on Friday. That's my life. Haven't felt like going to church any of this year except one Sunday. Bummer.

So sorry Doydie. Hope things turn around for you soon so you cian enjoy your family visits again.

I've been wondering about the declining membership on MS boards too, Sally. Since I don't visit other types of boards, I don't know if it's just MS or if it's message boards in general. Maybe a little of both.

When you think about it, keeping an MS message board going has to be an uphill battle. How many people diagnosed with MS have a reaction like, "The less I hear about MS, the better I like it"? Or "I'm going to forget about MS as much of the time as I can and party on"?

Many find it helpful to seek out other people in the same boat--to look for help or to offer help or both. We can only hope that enough people will keep on feeling that way but now that they have Facebook and Twitter and umpteen other ways of expressing themselves, it will be more of an uphill battle than it was some years ago.

Just my opinion though, FWIW. The people who've hung in there the longest on message boards should have a considerable value by now just because we've stuck it out and know the ways of message boards.

We need to pat ourselves on the back, Sally, not despair. It's not that the place is boring--it's that people sometimes prefer to run from a problem instead of finding out more about it, and maybe just now there are quite a few people who feel that way.

When I was first diagnosed I happened to come into contact with 4 people who had very severe or advanced MS. Those were my first contacts with other PwMS. It made me realize how lucky I was, not to be in their situations. There were no message boards back then but now a message board can bring people with MS into contact with others who have different versions of the same disorder. It can be a real eye-opener.

Sally,

Even tho I deal with PN and not MS; I frequently checked on this site to read your "witty repartee" . Praying you will soon be up to writing them again.


Gerry