November 20 2006 Lynne

Lynne has MS.

We received the diagnosis from her consultant on Tueday night and haven't felt much like blogging since.

It was at the back of our minds I suppose. The loss of sensation down her left side, the speech slurred now and again, tiredness, one or two other things.

The consultant was straightforward in approach. No doom, no gloom, but no reassurances either. Just straight down the middle.

At this stage it appears to be mild. No way of knowing how it will progress. We must and will take the optimistic view. Perahps this is as bad as it will get. Lynne began steroid treatment the day after the diagnosis. Hopefully they will attack the symptoms.

We are still obviously in the research phase at present, but Lynne's medical training means she knows a bit anyway. She will have periods of relapse and periods of normality. And the relapse periods can be mitigated.

We are determined, upbeat. And somehow, knowing what we are facing is infinitely better than the vacuum we existed in before. The diagnosis could have been better. But it could have been worse. What was unbearable was not knowing,

Lynne is brave. Some of it for my sake, some of it for the kids' and her parents' sake. But brave.

We are in this together. And the support we have already had from friends, from colleagues, from family, means we won't be alone.

An uncertain future then. But we are marching towards it, not dithering on the edge.