“You Can’t Schedule Your MS!”

Lately, I’ve been sleeping a large part of the day away. I told my Mom yesterday, that I wanted to get up at 11:30. 11:30 came and went. She came back at 12 and I told her 12:15. I heard her say from my doorway that it was 12:11. I have responded with a closed eyes, “12:30.” When 12:30 arrived, I waved my Mom off. I ended up getting out of bed at about 1 o’clock. The one thing I DIDN’T want to do!

As I started my morning routine of taking my vitamins, drinking my water and protein shake, and brushing my teeth, my Mom told me that, “You can’t schedule your MS!” I took what she said to heart and realized that I pretty much have been doing that since the get-go!

I was diagnosed during my freshman year of college and I didn’t start teaching until five years after my diagnosis. I pushed myself in college and the entire time I taught. When we moved into our house, in 2009, I began waking up at 4:30 in the morning in order to give myself enough time to get ready for the day and to be at work by 7:15. My colleagues would joke with me because I don’t drink coffee and they couldn’t understand why I was so awake as they drank theirs. I would laugh and tell them that it was noon for me because I had been awake since 4:30 this morning.

As the years went by, I had already established that I needed a first hour prep period. So it got to the point where I needed to be to work by 8 o’clock before second hour started. Eventually, after I was injured, I had to throw in the towel!

I was happy that my Mom told me to NOT put my MS on a schedule because I did not wake up until about 2 o’clock this afternoon. With the coming rain for the next couple days, that makes sense to me. I feel terrible when it rains and it has already started!