Hi, how are you all doing?

I used to be a member of BrainTalk Community, but was searching around the web and found this site. What a great site! I really like the online journaling, photos, and access to treatment information.

I just wanted to say hello, and let you know I will be participating in the discussions here.

A quick history of my MS - I was dx in May 2002 and was put on Avonex. I then progressed rather rapidly, and was dx as Secondary Progressive and switched to Betaseron. The progression continued, and I was put on Cytoxan chemotherapy for two years. The effects were very bad for my general health, and I was also on about 20 meds to manage all my symptoms.

My life, until about 5 weeks ago, consisted of staggering into the bathroom, playing with my cat, and getting to doctor's appointments in a wheelchair. I had very little quality of life, which was hard because I am married with 3 boys, 2 dogs, and a cat. At this point the neurologist had warned me that my immune system was surpressed to the point that it was that of a patient with AIDS, and that I could no longer touch my toddler (Derek, age 3).

Well that did it! I went off the chemo, stopped almost all my meds, and I have never felt better in my life! Now I won't lie - there was a huge and terrible few weeks where my body was adjusting to the changes. But once that passed, I started to feel as if I had been reborn!

Now I can do just about everything I did before, and I am loving every minute of it. I can play with all my boys, drive, sing,dance, paint, run, write, read, and come play here!

So I do believe in miracles, and this remission is living proof, at least to me.

I guess that wasn't quick after all - sorry, but I had to get it out.

I hope you are all doing okay, and I would love to offer my support, encouragement and understanding to those of you who need it!

Hugs around,

Cindy