Kathy with MS

Kathy with MS

by Charles Lawrence

“My hands feel numb again.  Can you wash the dishes tonight?”

“Sure. No problem,” I said.

Kathy developed Multiple Sclerosis when she was in her late 20’s.  The prime of her life, she always said.  She had just started a teaching job in Michigan and started feeling the symptoms of fatigue, being off balance, tingling and numbness in her hands and feet.  At first, the doctors said it was all in her head.  But a person knows when something is wrong with them, regardless of what a doctor thinks.

She ended up at the University of Michigan to see a neurologist.  An exam and an MRI of her brain confirmed lesions and the clinical symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis.  Kathy continued to try to work as a school teacher at a Kalamazoo high school, but the stress of putting in a full day was too much for her.  

The injections needed to keep the immune system from attacking the Central Nervous System are very expensive.   So Kathy was stuck.   How was she going to get insurance to pay for her medicine and work to support herself at the same time.  The answer was Sam’s Club.

Sam’s Club allowed her to put in a minimum number of hours and still qualify for benefits.  Sam’s Club was not one of Kathy’s favorite places in the world, however.    Sometimes life requires us to make compromises and working at Sam’s Club was a big one.

“I hate working at Sam’s Club, but I have nowhere else to go.”   

“I know.”  I had just moved to New York City a few years earlier and knew Kathy through a friend.  I returned to Michigan to visit her and other friends.   We started dating during my visit.

“Why don’t you move to New York City with me?  Maybe you can get a job with insurance out there. “

“New York?  It’s such a struggle for me to get through the day in Kalamazoo.  I don’t know how much longer I can keep working.  I’m so tired.  ALL the time.   I don’t know how soon I’m going to end up in a wheelchair.  I can’t imagine wheeling my way down 5^th Avenue.”

“Listen, I have to go back to New York in a few days.  Think about it.   I’ll do some research to see what resources there are for people with MS in New York.  There have to be top doctors out there.  I’ll call you as soon as I get back there.”

When I returned to New York, I called a friend who has a daughter with neurological problems and he suggested that Kathy apply for Medicare.   She started the application process within a week.

We continued to have a long distance relationship for the next several months until she was approved for Medicare.   My job at the staffing agency was going well and we decided it was time for the big move out East.

I took a few days off, returned to Michigan and we rented a U-Haul for the long journey from Michigan to New York. 

“You know I’d still be working at Sam’s Club if we hadn’t met.   I owe you big time, “she said.

“You can pay me back when we get back to New York.”

“How?”

“I’ll draw you a picture.  Or better yet, I’ll take one”.

“You’re bad.”

It took 2 days to get to New York.  Two long days, but you couldn’t beat the company.  We talked about the things we were going to do when we got there.   We talked about how much we loved books and about visiting the museums every weekend.   I told her going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art was like taking a time capsule back in time.  You realized how young this country was compared to ancient civilizations.   And you thought about what ancient civilization leave behind.   All they really leave are buildings and art and whatever objects they used in day to day living—pottery, eating utensils along with artifacts of war.

“What do you want to do first when we get there?” I asked.

“I don’t know.  Find some exotic restaurant I think.”

“How about Ethiopian? The food is great, but you don’t get much by way of portions.”

“You’re really bad.”

At the end of our second day of travel, we approached Manhattan at night.  You couldn’t tell the sky from the city since the lights were twinkling from above and from below. 

“It looks like heaven,” she said.

“It is.  It really is.”