The Brain Fog Battle

​March is Multiple Sclerosis Awareness month. So, it seems somehow appropriate that this month I had my first part of my new Rituxan infusion treatment. It is a more aggressive treatment that will hopefully decrease the disease progression and help keep my joint condition controlled, as well. It was something I had spent months going to specialists and advocating for. Once the initial sleepiness from the pre-treatment Benadryl passed, I felt great! Great enough to not be able to sleep until 3:00 AM. I’m pretty sure that was a side effect of the pre-treatment steroids. But after less than 4 hours sleep, I got up, went to the dentist, dropped off a book sample at the local children’s toy and book shop and then picked up my first check from Polly’s Pancakes for their order of my “Purple Moose Makes Maple Syrup” book. It was warm and sunny, and all in all, a pretty great day. I felt the best I had in what seemed like weeks. 

I had been feeling off for almost two weeks prior to my treatment. I saw my primary care and my rheumy, and neither knew what was going on. I did my best to ignore it. It’s an occupational habit of chronic illness. Occupational, because managing a chronic disease becomes your job. Today was the first day in over a week that I actually felt human. My brain worked, I didn't feel exhausted, or sick or like I was going to faint when I bent over. Though I wanted to thank the infusion, I realized tonight there was much more to the story. 

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