An Unwelcome “Hug”

Today is a great day. It started off as it always does: My alarm went off at 2:17 a.m., I may have hit snooze a couple of times, and then I got up and got ready for work. At 3:30 A.M. I got to WAVY-TV 10/FOX43 where I did my hair and makeup and walked onto the set for the 4:30 a.m. start of our 4.5 hour newscast. We all had some laughs on set and things were great until, for me, they weren’t.

Before you read any further, take a moment and watch this quick video. Tell me what you see.

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Did you see an anchor smiling while telling a “good news” story about the 59th Basic Academy Class of the Norfolk Sheriff’s Office graduating today? Good. That’s what you should see. It’s a great story and certainly one that deserves the smile.

What you don’t see in that video is what’s called the “MS Hug” that had wrapped itself around my body from head to toe just minutes before that story began. The “hug” kept a strangle hold on me from 8:45 A.M. until shortly after the newscast ended at 9 A.M..

Over the last five years I have been very open about my life with Multiple Sclerosis. When I have a chance to pull back the curtain on this disease that is incurable (for now), I do so. Today is another one of those “pull back the curtain” days.

The MS Hug is an unwanted guest in the world of MS Warriors. We don’t know when it’s going to happen or how long it’s going to last. It feels like your body was tossed into a trash compactor and someone hit “go.” Your organs, your bones, all feel like they’re being crushed at the same time. But that’s not all my friends! Oh no! Why would the great hug stop there?

The pain from the hug made my skin, yes skin, react. It felt like someone poured molten lava over my body, starting at my scalp and letting it run down to my toes. Talk about a hot flash! I ended up looking like I had spent an entire day at the beach with no sunblock on. In addition to all of that delight (heavy sarcasm) it felt like thousands of bees were stinging me all at once.

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