#4 The Holy Grail of Medical Diagnostics

They say knowledge is power and I for one have an inquiring mind. If Mayo Clinic could provide the answer...I was ready to try again.

It takes persistence to get an appointment at(dim the lights, roll the music, we are in the presence of greatness) Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville...months of persistence. That's a really good fit if you have a slow moving mystery to solve. I wouldn't recommend it for a sharp pain where your appendix lives. But when I did finally get my moment in the fall of '99, I wasn't disappointed. They start at the beginning (no previous tests or theories are permitted) with a GP. From there tests are ordered as they see fit, while they rule out one possibility after another. Bottom line...after just 5 days, 6 doctors, and lots of machines that went ping or gave you a torture level electric shock every 6 inches all over your body (my personal favorite) and many interviews, I sat alone in an office while the big brains behind the scenes discussed what to tell me. "Please don't let it be a brain tumor" I silently pleaded once again with who ever might be listening.

At last 2 neurologists came into the room together to pronounce that I had Multiple Sclerosis. Whew! What a RELIEF! MS. OK, I can cope with that. My grandpa had MS but he was old and he died of a heart attack. I would live! Hoorey!

I was actually pretty happy. A little nervous about how to break the news to my husband, family and friends without them freaking out-- but not really very worried about the disease itself. After all--this was the new millenium--now that we knew, surely we could stop this thing in it's tracks-- right then-- so it wouldn't get any worse. And the cure must be right around the corner, right? After all, my grandfather had it. They cured chicken pox, Diphtheria, influenza, Measles, whooping cough, mumps, rubella, polio...how tough could this MS be?

I was about to find out.