Neuro Note #5: Thriving in the Face of Adversity

 For my fifth neuro note, I chose to focus on the topic of Multiple Sclerosis. I chose to focus on this diagnosis because it interested me when we learned about it in class and I wanted to look a little more in depth at it. I decided to watch Thriving in the Face of Adversity, a Ted Talk by Stephanie Buxhoeveden. In this ted Talk, Stephanie recounts how she received her diagnosis of MS at the young age of 25. 

Stephanie first started seeing the sigs of MS while she was in graduate school to become an anesthetist nurse. her first signs started out as slight numbness and tingling in her right foot. She initially put it off as just a sports injury, as she was active in her free time. That numbness in her foot then spread to her right leg. As a student completely focused on graduating and eventually entering the medical field, she refused to believe that her symptoms were something serious. on the day that she was going to be administering anesthesia for the first time, her symptoms took a turn for the worse and her life changed forever.

She realized that she could not feel her legs at all and was having difficulty putting on her surgical scrubs. The numbness in her legs then spread to her dominant right hand. In addition to the numbness, she then started to have extremely blurry vision and found herself unable to orient herself around the room. It was then that she knew that these symptoms were so much more than a sports injury. After calling her teacher for help, she was admitted to the hospital. She states in her talk how she entered the hospital as a provider and left a week later as a patient with Relapsing-Remitting MS.

 She goes into depth on how uncertain and unpredictable this form of MS is. Through her talk I learned how even during the remission stage of MS, she still feels the leftover effects from the previous relapses. Most of these symptoms are invisible, such as nerve pain, numbness after walking for long periods,  lesions in her brain and spinal cord, and fear of when the next relapse will occur. Despite her pain and frustration, she discovered how her diagnosis could change her for the better. 

She realized how she had more years remaining with MS than she had already lived without it. After this realization, she decided to set the tone for her remaining years. She was determined to put more into her life than MS could ever take from her. She decided not to take a leave of absence from school, educated herself throughly and making herself an expert on the diagnosis of MS, and taking an exam to become a board-certified MS nurse only 6 months after her own diagnosis. She even started her own website dedicated to educating, empowering, and giving hope to other people who had been diagnosed with MS. She is now dedicated to research and finding a cure for MS.

From this Ted Talk, I was able to learn about relapsing-remitting MS from the perspective of someone who is actually living with it. While I learned how frustrating, uncertain, and painful living with this diagnosis can be, I also learned how this diagnosis does not mean the end of a fulfilling, purposeful, and meaningful life. Stephanie's inspiring story is is just one example of how someone can use their diagnosis to inspire, empower, and educate not only themselves but also others who are experiencing the same uncertainty and confusion. 

I recommend this Ted Talk as an amazing resource for people hoping to gain a better insight into MS, and also to people who are experiencing MS and in need of inspiration. 

TED. (2015, April). Stephanie Buxhoeveden: Thriving in the face of Adversity [Video File]. Retrieved             from https://youtu.be/zuLOT6GsAxw.