Thank you, Mr. T

One of my secret pleasures is the movie Rocky III.  Right in the middle of the Rocky series, it has Stallone in his greatest roll facing his greatest nemesis, Clubber Lang, played by the one, the only Mr. T:

This Rocky movie continues the pattern of killing off people from the first movie to keep the Champ motivated to pummel his opponents.  Clubber, not in the first two movies, does his part by killing off Apollo Creed (the Ali of this series) and then hitting on Mrs. Rocky (the amazing Talia Shire) before "clubbing" Rocky into submission and winning the championship.

And what was Clubber's prediction?  Pretty much what my doctor said:

Pain. It started down at the bottom of my spine and is moving like an insurgent army up my back and out into the nerve endings and muscles of the sacrum area (lower back).

 Terrible? No, fortunately.  But its like this.  Take the thumb and index finger of one hand and pinch some skin on your opposite arm.  Now keep your finger and thumb doing that all day long. Every day.  Not hard, don't squeeze (unless you're into that) but just imagine that annoyance every minute of your waking life.  You can't walk for more than ten minutes or do much of any activity before it comes on and stays on, fades only when you're asleep.

If it allows you to sleep.  See, the pain army has not only invaded, but its also infiltrating where it can, sending out its agents to new places, like my arms.  And as part of its program, the pain army doesn't just use its favorite tool, but also numbness and that general uncomfortable feeling, like when your foot falls asleep after the tingly feeling goes away.  There is no place to put my arms that they don't feel that way, making sleep an impossibility.  I am grateful for Hulu on those nights.

Again I know there are many people who have more severe pain problems than I can probably imagine.  My heart goes out to all of you.  But I also know that MS can do what it wants when it wants, especially in Primary Progressive MS where we really don't have much in the way of drugs aside from aspirin.  My primary doctor and I are going to look at some osteopathic possibilities.  Not that this is the be all and end all.  If the lesions in my brain are causing this, then that's that.  But maybe, maybe we can make it a little better.  In the world of fog that most MSers live in, a chance to focus outside of ourselves for a few more moments each day benefits everyone.

I'm not sure who the general of the army is that's invading my body, but I've got an idea its a very very teeny tiny version of ....

There's more pain to come!

Thanks for reading.  And thank you Mr. T. I pity the fool with MS!