Welcome to this Throwback Thursday post on A Couple Takes On MS, where we repost some of our favorite essays over the past 14 years since we launched our blog. These appear on the last Thursday of each month, and there are two reasons we’re sharing this one with you today: 1) It’s Thanksgiving Day, and of course we give thanks for the pets in our lives that make each day better; and 2) We are fostering Bean, one of our friend’s cat, and Bean’s mannerisms often remind us of our beloved first pet, Cooper.
From March 4, 2009
no, my very first blog will not be about cleaning up our cat cooper’s pee. it’s just that our bundle of joy, as we often call cooper, missing his litter box is one of those little daily annoyances of life that i miss. believe it or not, i miss being able to clean up cat pee!
i miss it because multiple sclerosis makes it easier for someone else to clean the mess up. after making a genuine offer to help clean the mess up, dan weighed his options: it was either me stooping over the box cursing frustratedly as i try to reach the mess or him calmly cleaning the mess up. he chose option 2. and while i don’t blame him, i just wish i could have done it. that is what he lives with as my husband as well as my caregiver, damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
first off, let me introduce myself, i’m jennifer digmann. i will be occasionally sharing my tales of my daily life with multiple sclerosis. i’ve been living with ms for 11 years, my ms is secondary progressive, i no longer walk (i use a wheelchair but long for functioning legs each and every day … but who among us in a chair doesn’t?). my writings or musings, if you will, will never be capitalized. i’m weak on my left side so i seldom use it and one typically uses his or her left hand to press the shift key to capitalize therefore, i don’t. yes, i realize that there are many types of voice activated typing programs on the market, but i am a soft speaker with a subtle lisp (apparently) who is easily frustrated so i’ll stick to my right hand index finger typing method, thank you. did i mention that i’m stubborn, too. and that i have an amazing husband, dan, who is also dealing with his own case of this miserable disease.
i will try to write honestly. none of us, whether you yourself have ms or you are the caregiver of someone living with this disease, needs a pollyanna version of life with multiple sclerosis. i like to be positive but i am trying to be real. however, i don’t want to be a whiner. oy…i just really want to clean up cat pee the way i used to.