This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Following on from here:

http://www.thisisms.com/ftopic-3016-0.html

David and I had a competetiton to see which of us this time would get into print first, because I have a painting being used for the cover of a Dutch architectural magazine, Bouwfysica in the next issue:




David has won: http://tinyurl.com/y5ulpebecause although my mag is being printed at the end of this month, it is not yet published. So he can buy me a meal at the Saffron next week.

Sarah

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An Itinerary in Light and Shadow Completed Dr Charles Stratton / Dr David Wheldon abx regime for aggressive secondary progressive MS in June 2007, after four years. Still improving with no relapses since starting. Can't run but can paint all day.

Sarah, Kudos for both of you! Love the painting.
Will there be any chance for a non-subscriber to ever see the whole article? Is it a matter of waiting for a certain period of time to pass before it is accessible to anyone? Or maybe crashing the door in at a medical library is the answer. Joyce

Thanks, Joyce. I did the painting several years ago, in oil. I don't use oils any more. The article is subscription only, at least until it becomes so old that it looses all relevance, but...... Sarah

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An Itinerary in Light and Shadow Completed Dr Charles Stratton / Dr David Wheldon abx regime for aggressive secondary progressive MS in June 2007, after four years. Still improving with no relapses since starting. Can't run but can paint all day.

Well, at long last I got this in the mail this morning, but in the meantime I got another request by Metzler Violins in Los Angeles to use another of my violin pictures for their annual Cremonese makers exhibition in January. I still haven't had my meal at the Saffron, though.

Sarah

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An Itinerary in Light and Shadow Completed Dr Charles Stratton / Dr David Wheldon abx regime for aggressive secondary progressive MS in June 2007, after four years. Still improving with no relapses since starting. Can't run but can paint all day.

Congratulations again, Sarah. My immediate thought was "This achievement is a beautiful symbol of life after MS." But then I wondered how you thought of your MS status. So now I'm curious...do you think of yourself as someone who still has MS, or do you see yourself as someone who had MS but is now recovering from it. I know you are still experiencing improvements in function that amount to reversal of "permanent" neurological damage, but, as that damage became a "done deal" as it happened, the fact that it still exists at all does not mean you still have MS.

Hello Joyce, well, the painting was done during MS, but before I was terribly affected by it. I could say that the dark stormy background was maybe somehow indicative of my state of mind at the time, but I still have an inclination for dark, stormy backgrounds, although this one, which I am just starting work on, does have the sun appearing above the clouds:

http://www.CPn Help.org/?q=sarahs_illustrated_blog_0

I did say somewhere in the Regimens section, over eighteen months ago, in reply to someone's question, that I didn't think I had MS any more. Now I think I will answer in a slightly more grown up way:

I can certainly say that I have had no MS event since starting treatment, but have only improved. This improvement was sometimes a bit up and down, in the two steps forward, one step back mode, but with my diagnosis by one of the Addenbroke's chaps, I should only be getting steadily worse, in fact so rapidly that I shouldn't be here now, writing this, let alone disturbing David all the neighbours with bashing together three large stretcher frames for my next paintings. But when can I feasibly say that I no longer have MS? Some days, in some situations, I still walk as though I do, at other times I can look completely normal. I still have many visible lesions in my brain, but all except the very oldest ones are fading, gradually becoming smaller, not getting larger and more profuse.

I guess that I can say I no longer have MS, but "authority," something I have never had much respect for, would say differently. If I filled in a form for travel insurance, say, if I ignored the MS diagnosis and I had to claim for something, not MS related at all, I would have the claim rejected, never mind the fact that I have never, ever had to claim for anything. In fact, I am so certain in my own mind that I don't have the disease any longer that if not for the fact that I feel the need to guide people through the CPn maze until the exit is clearly visible, I wouldn't be still writing on ThisisMS or CPn Help.

Sarah

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An Itinerary in Light and Shadow Completed Dr Charles Stratton / Dr David Wheldon abx regime for aggressive secondary progressive MS in June 2007, after four years. Still improving with no relapses since starting. Can't run but can paint all day.

Sarah,
Congratulations on the magazine cover and I am not surprised that you have been asked to do another - that is great news. When you get to the Saffron, you will have lot of accomplishments to celebrate.

Also, thanks for your continued interest in writing as it keeps us going - I think some would have "thrown in the towel" if you were not around to keep us on track!

Hi Wiggy, don't worry, I'm not going to stop yet, there is too much to do and too many people to help. Not everyone, after all, is married to one of the few people at present who really can.

Sarah

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An Itinerary in Light and Shadow Completed Dr Charles Stratton / Dr David Wheldon abx regime for aggressive secondary progressive MS in June 2007, after four years. Still improving with no relapses since starting. Can't run but can paint all day.

Wow! Excellent painting - and congratulations!

I, too, commend you and David for all of your work to keep his research and treatment protocol out there for people to read.