Today, as you know, is Christmas day. The kids awoke extra early as they tend to do on this one day of the year. As I tried to sleep in for as long as I could, I began to be covered by Christmas gifts as the children sorted out which gift went to which child. It seems as though my son's gifts were piled upon me, and my daughter's were piled upon my wife. So, this Christmas I was able to remain lying down whilst my kids opened their gifts. Unfortunately, this meant that I was unable to make my usual 7-11 coffee run. Once the gifts were torn from their wrappings, and the floor had a nice layer of paper upon it, I was finally able to escape my bed to see how bad the damage was. My children immediately began picking their favorite toys, which always seem to be the ones that require either batteries or assembly, and requested our immediate assistance to make them operational. This year, that meant putting together their new Nerf machine guns that not only seem to shoot an endless supply of *soft (*extremely flexible, yet hard tipped) darts, but do so at a velocity that could rival the FPS of an M16-A1. This meant that my need for coffee from the store, would also lead to the inevitable "dart death" of me upon my return.
To see my children's face as they opened their gifts and the pictures that we were able to take of them posing with them was priceless. It is my favorite day of the year, because no matter how much is wrong with me due to the MS, it is forgotten for the few moments that my kids are in absolute bliss. This is the reason to have children, and one of the reasons that MS will never completely overcome me. As long as I have children smiling and squealing with glee, certain things in my life can be completely ignored.
Thankfully this year, I have seen many of my symptoms not necessarily increase in their effect on my daily life, and we have been able to largely control them through the proper balance of medication. The new symptoms that we have welcomed into our life this year are still not severe enough to stop me from trying to enjoy my life with my family and still allow me to do things regularly with them without much effort to accommodate me. What we are truly thankful for is that we have been able to leave my wheelchair in storage for the past 9 months without needing it. This is what I have personally been most thankful for.
Unfortunately, we have not been able to close the open book that is my SS disability. That case is still open, and still pending a decision by the SSA. I hear so many stories from people who have been able to get approved the first time, or had a decision within the first few months after filing. I don't seem to have been so lucky, since it has been almost 16 months that I have been waiting, after the first denial I received 7 months ago. Perhaps this upcoming year will be the year that it finally comes to a conclusion and I can stop writing about that chapter of life with MS.
I hope that the few people who actually read my blog are reading this now without many major changes in their life. Hopefully, those with MS are not having any further difficulty with their symptom management. Hopefully, everyone is doing well in other aspects of their lives and is looking forward to the new year with optimism. And hopefully, everyone is still able to look at life with a sense of humor and can see the funny where others might see hardships. I hope that I will still be able to write this blog this coming year without making you few readers bored of my meandering thoughts. Although I know that this is not everyone's life, it is something like it...
