I can't remember the last time I was so sick! I am sure not all of this is due to my MS. Actually I would swear to it. Some of what I am experiencing I am positive is my MS....the eye pain, headaches, twitch under my left eye (yes, it is back.....I am starting to think this is an indicator of my relapses), weakness, fatigue, etc. Some of it I am positive is not the MS but is more likely due to the steroids....the nausea, abdominal cramping (or this could just be still from before), hot/cold flashes, jittery feelings. It is horrible. The last couple of days I have not been able to keep more than toast and water down without some serious stomach problems to follow. This I am sure have to do with the meds. If I did not know any better I would think I was on chemo again....yuck!

It is funny how things work out. Here I thought I was doing really well. I guess that is what happens, eh? Speak too soon! I have been having this abdominal pain over the last month or so....which is really when a lot of this became obvious. Sure, I was having some headaches and other symptoms, but I thought I was doing great....it was just the heat! That abdominal pain is for the most part gone (it comes and goes....but nothing like it was) and I have gotten the majority of my lab results back....since stopping the Avonex (off for a month now) my liver function is completely NORMAL! This is great news.....only now the question is what to do about treatment. I have been on Copaxone....unsuccessfully, and now the Avonex doesn't seem to be the best choice based on recent liver function...(which also rules out the use of the other interferons), I am not a candidate for Tysabri due to my history of B-cel lymphoma....so I guess we will just have to see how things will go. At my appointment last Monday however my neurologist spoke about getting me back on Avonex...because that is probably my best bet (if we can get the liver function back to normal). All I know is that I don't want to feel the way I do right now for long.

I am happy to report some good news in the midst of my relapse, however. :) Besides the fact that my liver function is back to normal (good news), I had my follow-up with the ENT specialist last week to go over all of my lymphoma/thyroid stuff and everything looks good. As a matter of fact the thyroid nodule has even decreased in size by 1mm! The lymph nodes in my neck appear to have had no change and are most-likely benign (due to the location...there is no way to get in and do a biopsy....but due to the size and that there is no change he is certain all is okay). I will follow up in October. I did find out something interesting from him in regards to my MS. He asked me about my voice because while in his office I was in one of my moments where I was somewhat loosing my voice (seems to happen often towards the end of the day) and I explained to him that for the last couple of months now I tend to get weak later during the day and both my hearing and voice get more weak. I don't loose them completely....they just get soft and weak. The thing about it is that I did not have any lesions suggesting this on my last MRI (in July). He did some tests and showed that I do have some low-pitch hearing loss which would be consistent with a weakening.....most likely to do with the nerve, he said. This is not consistent with typical hearing loss as that would show as high-pitch hearing loss. I am just glad that this is only a mild occurrence and it happens as my body tends to weaken later on throughout the day. He felt this would probably get better as I recovered from my relapse, just to be safe however....he is going to recheck things when I follow-up in October.

Today I have an appointment to go get my eyes checked to see if the steroids are helping with the ON. Wish me luck! From there I am not sure what I will be doing.....hopefully feeling a bit better. I left a message with my neurologist and so hopefully they will have some suggestions on what I can do to get to feeling better. I hope all of you are doing well. Have a good day! :)