I bet my doctor thinks I'm stalking him. Seriously. Apparently, I've got this Wash, Rinse and Repeat mindset with my health. Yet another month and I'm spending another Saturday night in the DHMC emergency room. I'm getting good at it. I have charged batteries, the computer, change for the vending machine, and a foot with toes that look like little sausages. Fortunately, it is warm so I can rock my Vera Bradley flip flops. Well, at least on my one foot. I do have a slip on sneaker on the other one. And I have a matching pair of the mismatched shoes in my backpack. The good news? We now know it is not related to my TM or MS. It is a Gout like condition. (you've "gout" to be kidding me....) Hydroxyapitite crystal disease, to be exact. Just another Latin phrase for my collection. Fortunately, it is treatable, but it still hurts like a son of a snickerdoodle. (My kid friendly curse word.) I think Lilly thinks they are dog treat "Snausages". She keeps licking my toes as if she thinks they look tasty. Good grief! (Do they still make those? I can still hear the crazy voice from the commercial saying it in my head.)

No one gets sick alone. We are each a part of a vast network of family, friends and humanity in ways that only George Bailey truly understands. Our lives have a ripple effect that moves forward throughout our individual webs.

One of the hardest parts of a chronic illness is seeing the pain my illness can cause a loved one. It can come in many forms. The look away when a friend sees me for the first time walking with a cane or walker. The flinch of disappointment when I turn down an offer to go out again. Sometimes it comes disguised as being super positive, such as when someone tells me insistently that they know someone who has this same condition and they are fine. The truth is maybe the person you know really is fine, or maybe they look fine, but don't feel it. Regardless, it's evident in your concern that the thought of me not being OK is something you really don't want to think about. 

There is a picture circulating on social media of a 3D perspective picture that completely changes when your perspective changes. It's by Patrick Hughes at the Birmingham Art Gallery. Google Superduperperspective and you can see the video for yourself. It's pretty amazing. From one angle the picture jumps out at you with a pyramid of images. Then as you move to to the right or left suddenly it recesses back with corridors moving away from you. It's really astounding. It is a visual example of how much difference perspective can make in life.

I spent MLK weekend in the hospital again, Optic Neuritis was the latest Latin name to be added to my string of words that now shape my life. Basically inflammation of the optic nerve was distorting my vision, making it blurred and giving me headaches. Now, when you are an avid reader like myself, not being able to read is a stab to the soul of who I am. Not to mention, the ability to read is an integral part of day to day living from paying bills, to reading mail or a recipe. Fortunately, I am a good enough reader that I could read a text or FB post if it was brief by looking at it and quickly reading the sentence as a whole, or most of it at once. I could type because my fingers pretty much knew where to go, but proofreading? Ha! And a full page of any text was a blur of frustration.