6 January 2006 was the day my official MS diagnosis was given, a day mine and my families lives were turned upside down. To start with I was shocked and unsure about what my future will hold but felt I had always dealt with it pretty well and was willing to give it my best shot at coping and living life to the best of my ability and prepared myself for a life on medication. Up until my major attack in late Sep 2013 I was doing ok, I hadn’t been severely affected, I couldn’t do late nights, I needed to rest often and sometimes couldnt move with fatigue, I had lost most of my strength and my brain was foggy. I suffered vertigo, occasional blurry vision and MS hug (tightening around my ribs). My right leg always felt weird and achy but I had still managed to live a realitively normal life with my young family. Of course reality hit when I was paralysed on my right hand side for a month and I never recovered completely and I had permanent damage 18 months down the track when I got to Russia.

10 years on today my/our lives have changed for the better, I leaped for a better life and it appears I have got it and it is now 8 months post transplant as well. I had always hoped that something would come along in the future but never in my wildest dreams did I think it would be so soon and so effective. I can not thank everyone or my lucky stars enough as I am feeling truley new and wonderful.

I returned to work on 10 Nov and had my desk all decorated and I guess they were happy to see me. All went well and I am glad to be back and I have noticed my typing is alot quicker and I can use my ring and little fingers when touch typing again. I also am managing to walk to the mall in my lunch breaks and I nearly always take the stairs to level 4 of the carpark. I was a bit tired after a couple of weeks but Joe had also gone to work so life was busy. I said to my colleague that I had bags back under my eyes, but once I got back into the swing of things they disappeared thank goodness! I love waking up “awake” in the mornings now. One of the best symptoms to dissappear I believe. I would always need to summons up the energy to get out of bed, now it’s not an issue at all.

One of my other symptoms that has gone is my heat intolerance… sitting at the Christmas pageant and then also Christmas carols in the sun, covered up (long sleeves and pants to avoid burn) wasn’t an issue either. Previously this would wipe me out and no way would I be able to wear long sleeves etc. I am actually feeling the cold now which is totally strange for me.

Before I knew it 6 weeks had passed and it was Christmas and as the festive season arrived we were soo busy… catch ups with everyone, Christmas shopping although it was mostly done online earlier in the year still needed to be finished, 3 work parties and then preparing and hosting Christmas day at our house for 24 people with Joseph only getting home on the 23rd! I managed to do all the things I needed and even have the presents wrapped before Christmas eve. I had all the energy to keep going and didn’t really even have a rest day during December let alone the naps, early nights or wiped out days that would have been my norm.

On boxing day we left for Sydney to spend 10 days with Josephs family who live there. We pretty much did something every day and had the best time, lots of late nights and some early mornings but also some sleep ins when my children let us and I was not anywhere near as fatigued as Joe during the whole trip. We went to wet and wild 2 days in a row and whilst I didn’t swim or go on any slides etc I still managed to do 17289 steps the first day whilst wearing my havi’s (thongs or flip flops for non aussies) and then even run in them when I needed to catch up to the rest of the group after taking something back to the cabana! I couldn’t even wear thongs prior to hsct let alone run in them! We did the zoo and shopping days, I had my first swim in his cousins pool and I have never been so close to fireworks on new years eve as we were at the marconi club! We also managed a trip to nearly newcastle to see my godmother and family! We had the best time and came home at 10.30pm on the Monday with work bright and early the next day for me!

Joseph has now sort of changed jobs, he has moved to the adelaide metro day crew. This means no more fifo for us as he is now doing the same job just not out in the middle of no where. He will look after the adelaide section of the pipeline instead. It was a very hard decision to make as the 2 weeks he was home was awesome and he liked the boys on roster etc but it nice to know he did not need to make his decision because of me and my illness it was more because of missing Bianca and Dominic and their behaviour when he wasn’t here. Will be good to have him home every night! So this change also occured on 6 January!

I am very pleased and also so shocked with how my recovery has been so far and am feeling truely fantastic and getting stronger every day. My only issue is feeling comfortable and confident to go “out” without my wig. My hair is growing and is nice and curly but still not long enough to blow dry and straighten. I will have a trim and tidy up in the next week, but for now it is easier to embrace the curl and go without my wig when I need to wear my headset at work and my colleagues are very polite if not somewhat convincing at making me feel ok with it. If you are reading this as research to decide to have the treatment, you should seriously consider it, as I do not have one regret at all! I would like to/could nearly say that I didn’t quite make it to 10 years with the monster that is MS, but reality is I did have it for a few years pre diagnosis. This year I will hopefully do bootcamp, start to see clients at the counter again, Bianca will be in year 1 and Dominic will start kindy and Joseph will be here for everything. I hope you all have a fantasic 2016 too!!!