I have been thinking about this memory all summer! Probably, even longer than that! Let me ‘splain ya:
I think that it’s about 2004? I’m not even sure! I am still in college and Sean and I are still living with my Parents. I had just gotten fitted for Canadian crutches. I remember that my brother, Jimmy, came over and my Mom probably gave him food or something.
My crutches, stayed at the doorway of the side door. They stayed at the doorway of both of my apartments as well. I didn’t use crutches when I got my house. I was in a chair full-time then.
The memory I have is from probably 2004. So, my brother comes to my Parents’ house and he is seated at the table in my Dad’s seat and I am seated in my normal seat for dinner, directly to his left.We were talking.
He looked at me, and point-blank asked “Jen, what hurts?” I remember that I thought for a moment, and I said, “Just my nerves.” I think he may have been drinking something because he drank, and he thought about what I said, and then he looked at me, kind of quizzically. Then I said, “There are nerves in every inch of my body.”
I remember making this statement to him back then, I didn’t fully know or understand what that entails. After this summer, I KNOW what that entails. This was the first summer of my life with having MS that my entire body felt horrible!
I am so beyond grateful for fixing my air conditioning this year. I don’t know what I would do if it wasn’t because this past summer was ABSOLUTELY horrible!
I have written before that this sustained heat was not good for vulnerable people like me. I barely fell asleep, hot and uncomfortable just to wake up hot and uncomfortable. My brain could not handle it!!! I like that it’s getting cooler now so my brain has begun to relax. But this was the first time that my entire body hurt because my nerves hurt.
I will write about other unfortunate instances from this summer a little bit later.