Many of you have probably had a sinus infection at some point in your lives, and as miserable as they are for normal people, any kind of infection affects those of us with MS in completely different--and often worse--ways.
The underlying problem of MS is that my immune system recognizes parts of my nervous system as a foreign object, and every so often decides to attack it. I'm on medication to help modify my immune system to keep this from happening, but it's not a perfect method. This medication--a once-a-month IV infusion called Tysabri--has been working great for me, but it makes me more susceptible to things like UTIs and, yes, sinus infections. The last time I had one was in March 2012 while I was here in Tucson for the annual Festival of Books. I was in a hotel room by myself and wanted to die.
Unfortunately, after being sick with a bad cold for two weeks and finally on my way to getting better, I made a quick turn for the worse. I was able to get into an urgent care clinic and get a prescription for an antibiotic, but it generally takes about 24-48 hours to start noticing a real improvement. During that time, my immune system is not only attacking the infecting agent; it's attacking my whole body. My legs felt it the most; I could barely walk, and sometimes it took me ten minutes just to stand up because the severe spasticity was preventing my legs from bending at the knee. I couldn't even put my legs up on the couch without extreme difficulty, and changing position without having to move my legs with my hands was pretty much out of the question.
Needless to say, I was useless for a good day and a half, and thank God it happened on a weekend so my amazing husband could care for our kids. I had hoped to finish writing and submit my monthly column for Homeland Security Today, but that wasn't going to happen. I didn't even crack my laptop open for a full day, which is a rarity. I work from home and my "office" is a small desk in the corner of our family room, but most people hear/see the "Longmire Consulting" title of my business and think I'm a decent-sized operation. I'm known for being very prompt in returning emails and phone calls, but when an MS attack strikes, everything in my work life comes to a halt until I can function again. It's sometimes hard to explain via email to clients why I didn't respond, but I find that vast majority of people are very understanding when I explain what's going on.
Anyway, the Z-pack has fully kicked in, and I finally feel more like a normal person today. It'll be a relatively slow work week, and I'm looking forward to another fun Military MOPS meeting on Friday!
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