Who are you?

[JI Jo]

Okay, so we all have issues which could or couldn't be MS or a number of related things ....but I know I am more than my symptoms!

I am a 25 year old mother of an (almost) 2 year old boy and step-mother to an 8 year old little girl. I am Jamaican born and raised but live and work in the Cayman Islands. I have a husband who I love but is a pain in the *** sometimes (aren't they all???) Apologies to the men on the forum, I'm sure you're different!

I love going to the beach, reading (mostly horror, fiction, suspense....favourite authors are Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Anne Rice....) and playing computer games (World of Warcraft at the moment - lol), I love animals, especially dogs and have bred and trained American Pit Bull Terriers for about 9 years now.

I'm a scorpio and have been told since I was about 3 years old that I am the most argumentative, stubborn person most people in my life have ever met. I will question if the sky is blue and will argue with you about it until you agree it is green with pink spots - LOL

Hence why I started law school, I didn't finish though as I quickly realized I do not like most lawyers. Figured that could be a problem... I've always wanted to do Veterinary medicine but I could never pass chemistry in high school....sigh.

So...in a nutshell, that is me!

Who are YOU???

[EL18]

Room for another little one.....

My real name is Emma, although Em to friends and family.  I'm 31 (just, had to get that in). Very happily married to a wonderful man called Rob.  We've only been married just over 2 years but have been together 12 years in total.  He is my best friend, my shoulder to cry on, my strength and my voice of reason.

No kids but I came off the pill recently so fingers crossed.  From a large family, I am the youngest of 7 kids, 4 big brothers and 2 big sisters.  Although I'm the youngest I am also the tallest....at 5ft 11, which my brothers hate...my revenge for years of torment from them when I was younger...lol.

I work for the government in education which I really enjoy...if not a little pressured at times. My claim to fame is that I left home at 10 years old to train as a classical ballet dancer.  Unfortunately my knees gave way under my height at the age of 17 so had to gracefully retire....can still do the splits though...my famous party trick after too many glasses of wine.

I am a big sports fan and before all this happened you would normally find me at the gym, in the pool or on the bike. Love reading, particularly thrillers and ghosty type books, love all that paranormal stuff...just as long as it's not in my house.  We moved into our new house about 2 years ago and my mum and sister are convinced that the development is haunted...probably is as my house is built on an old battle site....spooky. I really enjoy painting canvasses too.  

Normally do alot of fund raising too.  For a number of years I have completed an annual distance swim for charity.  My dad has parkinsons so I usually swim for the local branch he goes to but I've also raised money for other charities like cancer research, ms (ironically) and a blind charity in the uk.

And I'm a cancerian...

Thats pretty much it. oh yeah, almost forgot.  I live in the UK on the border of Northumberland, although I am orginally from Yorkshire...I will always be a yorkshire pudding at heart though.

That's me.

Em (aka the tall one)

[EL18]

Love it......still laughing.  Great fun.

[Roxie0818]

Thought I would chime in here  :)    My friends and I always thought we were comedians (especially after rum/cokes ).. when  a guy would introduce himself to me I would say..
Hi, I'm Roxanne  I have MS and 3 biracial kids... How many guys do you think came back knocking at my door!!  It has been a running joke for 7 yrs now!!    
Anyway,  I do have 3 kids...10, 8, & 5  my 5 yr old son had brain damage at birth with autistic traits.. so you can possible imagine what our house is like if he is having a bad day at the same time as I am!!  My poor fiance...which I met online few yrs ago.  My kids and I moved from Indiana to central California last year... I graduated college first with business  then Teachers degree (special ed),  didnt think I would like that  so I went back for Nursing degree..  quit work in 2003 from being a hospice nurse, my mom had just died from cancer.. and my dad was dx with prostate cancer few days before my mom died.. so neuro thought it was time for me to stop and take care of myself and family . so here I have 3 degrees and Im a stay at home mom (thanks to MS).. but I volunteer at church and at my kids schools..
Im the youngest of 7 kids (4 girls and 3 boys)  and NO I'm not the spoil the one!
Well.. I think thats the jist of it!!
My 25 yr old niece just asked me today.. are you still a country girl or u a city girl now.. my reply was... YOU CAN TAKE THE GIRL OUT OF THE COUNTRY, BUT YA CANT TAKE THE COUNTRY OUT OF THE GIRL!!    YEEE HAAAAAAAAAAA   :)

[lisarenee37]

Hi,
Well lets see. My name is Lisa. I am married to my husband Blake.. We have three gorgeous boys.. Stetson 20, Derek 15, & Colton 13... My whole family is so good understanding how I feel with my up and down days... I have been diagnosed with possible MS.. But due to lost insurance I havent completed testing...
Anyways,  I  love the outdoors, love to travel and spend time with family....
I recently quit my job as an EMT  in the Emergency Room, Due to my health problems...
But, I hope and pray soon, I can get it under control and keep doing what I love... Taking care of other people...

I love hearing everyones story and I think you had an excellent idea for people to tell WHO THEY ARE....
Everyone is welcome to visit my Myspace page at  myspace.com/lisarenee36   ... I would love to share stories and be here for anyone that would just like to talk...

GOD   BLESS

[Quixotic1]

Hmmm.....I'm afraid I have become someone defined by my disability.  But, I will tell you a little about how I got here - minus most of the medical stuff.

I am the youngest of two, my sister, 18 months older now lives with me and is my main caretaker.  

We moved all over the western US growing up, but landed in So Cal for high school.  I was the typical, geeky brain, on the speech team and the swim team.  In college I was a dual Pre-Med and Spanish Literature Major, graduated Magna, Phi Beta Kappa and Hypo Gamma Chondria, and went on to USC School of Med.  The spanish was the smartest thing I could ever have done, as I also trained at LA County General (largest teaching hospital in the world) and about 90% Spanish-speaking-only patients.

Initially I did an old fashioned Rotating Internship - combining Medicine, OB/Gyn, Peds, and Surgery.  Then off to the Indian Health Service who I was a general Medical Officer in the Public Health Service for three years.  It was in Yuma, AZ and I started in July.  I signed all the employment papers, and because the PHS is a (sort of) branch of the military (you know, head guy is the Surgeon General) my mom and I were of to the Marine base to the commissary to stock up.

Well, they stopped us at the gate and asked for ID.  I remembered something about signing a page titled something like "Officer Commission."  So I told the guard, "I think I'm an officer."  Now, mind you, I was 27, weighed about 120 and had my long wavy, blond hair up in pigtails, and was in short shorts and a peasant blouse - maaaaybe looked 16.

The guard snorted and said, "Little Girl, if you were an officer you'd KNOW your were an officer."  The three other marines standing nearby snickered.

To which I said, "No, Really, I think I signed something.  Mother give me that file folder."  So I reached in and fumbled around and found my commission papers.  I was a 2nd Lieutenant.  I gave him the papers, he paused then muttered, "My God, She's a Lieutenant!"  And everybody snapped to attention.  This scared the Holy sh** out of me, and I thought they were going to shot me.  I froze.  They just stood there staring straight ahead.  My mom leaned over and said, "They won't relax until you salute back."  I had never saluted before, no one had ever said how to do it, so I shakily reaffirmed the location of my forehead, and he waived me through.  Meanwhile, my mom is in convulsions of hyterical laughter, and my heart is pounding a mile a minute.

that was the beginning of my military career.

I went on after being doctor to the Cocopah and Quechan tribes back to LA County General and did my Residency in Pediatrics in Spanish.  Then I did most of a Fellowship ar UCLA in Immunology/Allergy/Asthma.  In the meantime I married an Engineer.  He and I met at a massage workshop in Big Sur.  He was totally blind and the smartest and funniest human being I had ever met.  While I did my residency, he completed his Masters in Computer Science (He already had degrees in Economics from the Univ of Chicago and in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford.)

Long story short - 10 years on the South Side of Chicago practicing developmental medicine with the group that pioneered the first specialty school using simultaneous communication with kids with autism.  My practice was about 1/3 autistic kids and their sibs, 1/3 very, low bithweight premies (BW less than 2 pounds after they graduated from the nursery) and 1/3 other multi-handicapped kids.

Hubby turned out to be a closet sociopath and the marriage went south as he continually berated me for not making enough money.  This was after I put him through the University of Chicago Law School (ranked 2nd in the nation right behind Yale)

We maoved to a small town in the Nevada desert, separated, I paid HIM alimony, and he forced me into bankruptcy.  Vertigo---disability---MS  yada yada yada.

I am housebound for the most part because the vertigo has casued extreme sensitivity to car motion.  I have my sis and 4 lovely cats.  Abby is the regal, elder queen, a fawn (pinsh-beige) Abysinnian who reads my heart.  Tony, is a mackerel Maine Coon-type who is sort of like your old college roommate - the one who ran around in his boxer shorts and drank beer for breakfast.  He is huge and has no clue about the concept of momentum.  So he is called Tony, the Destroyer.  When you yell at him he looks up lovingly and says, "Hi, Mom!"  Trax is a prim, extreme long-hair Tuxedo.  Very polite with the voice of a newborn kitten.  Finally we have snickerbritches, the little bengal mix, named Clyde.  She, too, will be empathetic and a playful lover.

I love the trees and the weather here.  I'm on the mountainside so we see the Columbia Gorge and the river.  I love the nourishing rain and the Washington state flower - mildew.  I listen to John Denver.  I knit compulsively, but buy yarn more compulsively, having never met a skein of yarn I didn't buy.  My mom says I look at the world slantwise and have a quirky sense of humor.

I never had kids, never wanted them, but adored all the thousands that passed through my office.

And, yes, there is a support group for people who talk too much.  It's called

ON-AND-ON ANON

Quix

[floridamom2]

Hi all - What a great idea!
My name is Kristin and I am a 37 year old mother of 2, Nick 10 & Samantha 6.  My husband is Mark and was made by God for me.  We have been married for 12 years.  I had a rocky childhood here in Florida, my father was a drug addict (prescription drugs mainly) and I was/ am a recovering alcoholic.  I have been sober since I was 20 - yes, I have never had a legal drink!  I am the middle child and have an older brother and a younger sister and a very large extended family that all moved here from New Jersey in the early 70's.  
I am an LPN but I quit nursing after my daughter was born to work at the family business selling Windows & Doors, better money and no shift work.  I love to bake, clean (I know, it's borderline OCD!!), laugh and oh yeah, laugh!  I love Seinfeld, and we have every episode on tape somewhere.  .  I also love to garden, cut the lawn and work.  I am what most would consider ADHD so reading books is not in the cards but I enjoy anything that can hold my attention for more than 30 minutes!  I have 3 dogs, 2 Jack Russels and a Humane Society mix that is my baby!      

It is wonderful getting to know you all!

Oh yeah - and I earned a Gold medal in the 2004 Olymipics in the 200 m hurdles  - how about that Johnny!!  Isn't the internet great!
Kristin