Sunday, October 30, 2011

October is one of my favorite months. It is also the month I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis ,11 years ago.... 
Fall is my favorite time of the year, but, I have been falling down a lot lately... weak... double  vision...?another relapse.....
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, I love seeing the little kids dressed up in costume, so excited, haunted houses, scary movies.... 
Relapses don't usually scare me, I've had far too many for that.  So when my doctor and I decided it was a relapse,  I knew the next step would be a two day course of steroids.  YUK!!!!
I had the infusions 10 days ago, and all went as usual until a week ago when I had one of my famous 'steroid flashes' (similar to a hot flash, but 10 times worse!) along with some dizziness, nausea,.... the inability to stand on my own...
Now I was scared.
Today I am up, and starting to walk a little.  I can get to the bathroom by myself, (I can't believe I said that) and, as I gain more strength, I can sit up in bed to work on a simple project. So,  my daughter and I decided to re-organize the craft boxes full of beads by re-stringing them so they can hang on pegs.  As we watched movies and gorged on Halloween candy one thought of clarity came to me: once my shop opens, I want to make some jewelry designs to be sold specifically with the profits going to the M.S. society.  Maybe someday we can benefit from research, or get the word out about M.S. like it is for breast cancer.  It would be great if more people really knew what it's like to live with M.S.  I am going to do my best to share my experiences with M.S. as well as my jewelry, and I hope to have enough followers to make a difference!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Who is Not Pam?

When I was born, my parents didn't give me a middle name. On purpose. So whenever I got into trouble as a kid, I would hear "PAMELA" shouted in my direction. When my full name was called off the roster at the beginning of the school year I would yell 'PAM'! I didn't really have a problem with people calling me Pam, or at least I really didn't notice.

When I was 26, divorced, and a single parent I decided I needed a new identity to go along with my new job in a new city. I decided to go by my full name, Pamela. Now I wished I had a middle name. Desperately. Do you know how many people automatically shorten your name? Lots more will use the short version even though you introduced yourself with the long version! Lets just say I was always correcting people that my name was Pamela, not Pam.

Shortly after my move, I purchased a new car. I have always wanted personalized license plates, but after looking through the listing of taken plate names, I was discouraged. I ran through several stupid options like 'pamisme', or 'impam', until I corrected yet another person that my name is Pamela, not Pam. Well, it stuck, and the license division approved it too....Not Pam has been my license plate for the last 20 years. Then it became my email, my nickname, a joke....

Now I'm not as neurotic about what you call me. I do prefer Pamela, but if you call me Pam you won't get the lecture. Or the look.