Speedbump

I just finished reading “Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood” by Teri Garr and Henriette Mantel.

This is the autobiography of Teri Garr (Terry Ann Garr), a comic actress & dancer who played in one of my all-time favorite movies – Young Frankenstein.  This book is about her experiences in Hollywood and with multiple sclerosis.  Many of us can relate to her MS experience, for it took several years of symptoms before she got her diagnosis.  

I also personally related to her when she wrote:

“Most people have relapsing-remitting MS, which means that after an attack, they go into a period of remission that can last for years.  About 15 percent of people with MS have progressive MS, which doesn’t go into remission – it just gets worse at different rates of progression, depending on the person.

“I could relate to plenty of the MS symptoms, but the more research I did, the more horrific stories I heard.  And then my episode faded away.  I stopped feeling weak and tired.  I still had to wear my brace, but otherwise I felt perfectly fine.  When I felt better, I put the research away.  I didn’t want to think about being sick when I felt well.  It was easier to put it on the back burner.  Until the words 'You have MS' came out of the mouths of professionals, I didn’t want to entertain the thought.”

I fully understood her perspective here, too:  

“Often people experience shock, depression, fear, and denial.  Plenty of people go through all the stages of realization in quick succession.  Not me.  My diagnosis had taken years, so I was glad to finally have one.  It gave me a starting point.  But it didn’t make sense to call my friends and family.  Why worry everybody?  They would only let their imaginations run wild.  But I knew the quest was over.  Dr. Weiner said, ‘The Chinese word for crisis contains two characters, one meaning danger and the other meaning opportunity.’” 

The moment of diagnosis for her was when her doctor said, “This might be MS,” as he saw how physically drained she was when she stepped out of a hot tub.

Dave Bexfield (@ActiveMSer)(of ActiveMSers) once tweeted: “Hot tubs are super fantastic if you have MS! That is if you like to feel oogly, go temporarily blind and get brain fog. You've been warned.”  It was through a conversation there that I learned that a hot tub was a medical test for MS.  The National Multiple Sclerosis Society writes, “For many years, the ‘Hot Bath’ test was used to diagnose MS. A person suspected of having MS was immersed in a hot tub of water, and the appearance of neurologic symptoms or their worsening was taken as evidence that the person had MS.”

I’ve always been pretty hesitant about hot tubs myself.  That’s a lot of water, and one could drown.  Don’t think so?  My grandma’s Scottish Terrier drowned in a bucket.  Compare the size ratio; it is roughly equivalent.  Add heat to the mix and you might as well play Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone” for mood music.

The author mentions doing research on the Internet and finding all kinds of descriptive words for MS that aren’t exactly encouraging:  devastating, debilitating, degenerative.  One might as well add another “D” word: doom!  Here, though, she wrote something I find encouraging: 

“I decided to go back to my show-business roots and look at the bright side of things.  MS can be surprising, inventive, and often inspiring.  I started saying, ‘I may have MS, but I have the best MS in town.’ I felt better when I said it like that.

“I always strive to be the best at whatever I do.  Sometimes people like to remind me that MS is a progressive disease.  Right after I say, ‘Thank you for sharing that slice of positivity,’ I say, ‘You know what?  Life is a progressive disease.  In fact, life is the leading cause of death.  We’re all doomed.  Ain’t none of us getting out of this alive!’  See, I choose to believe that life is full of good things: creative people; happy families; chocolate; loyal friends; inspiring children; and, of course, the Beatles.  MS is just a speedbump…a little one.”