After a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, one woman embarks on a health journey that includes biking.
When Raquel M. went for a routine physical about three years ago, she was expecting to receive a clean bill of health. After all, the then-42-year-old single mother of three was working full time and constantly on the go: She didn’t have time to be sick. But Raquel’s doctor was concerned after performing two reflex tests on her knees.
“She said, ‘I see something a little abnormal – I would like to send you in for an MRI,'” Raquel recalls. “She wanted to make sure it wasn’t multiple sclerosis (MS), and I thought, ‘Are you kidding me? I know I’m clumsy, but I don’t have MS!’ But I had insurance, so I rolled with it.”
When the test came back positive for MS – a potentially disabling disease that interrupts and distorts messages from the body’s nerves to the brain – Raquel found herself in “a huge state of denial.” To be on the safe side, she consulted a neurologist for a second opinion, and the doctor told Raquel the exact day she’d receive a call if the results were positive.
“My now-husband, Gilbert – who was my boyfriend – stayed with me all day,” she remembers. “It was 8 at night and I said, ‘Listen, you have to go to work tomorrow. Go home, no one is calling at this hour.’ At 8:24 p.m. – and I will never forget the time – the phone rang and a doctor introduced himself. My heart raced and I went into a fog because I knew he was calling with bad news.”
Read Full Article: When Life Gives You Multiple Sclerosis, You… Get on a Bike?
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Read Full Article: When Life Gives You Multiple Sclerosis, You… Get on a Bike? |
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