Calling Dr. Erica Grazioli “just” a neurologist is a shortcoming. She’s truly an M.S. specialist and Tom and I met with Dr. Erica today for the first time since I was released from the hospital. It was a great meeting! Tom and I left feeling like it was the Sunniest day we’ve had in a long time. After the appointment, we went to lunch, sang in the car, picked up more medications, and spent the day filled with great hope and lots of laughter. (Especially when we stopped at the store, split up momentarily, and I had to call his cell phone because I got a little disoriented and couldn’t see well enough to find him easily).
We’re not sure if my eyesight will really ever go back to “normal” again. The best way I can describe what’s going on is to tell you to look straight ahead. Then, without moving your head, take both of your eyes and look to the right. Then look to the left. When I try to look to the left with both of my eyes, I can’t. They don’t seem to easily move in that direction any longer. They’re moving better than they were when I was in the hospital, but they’re still off. It’s like they get stuck on the journey over to the other side. Things remain a little blurry; it really comes and goes. The good news is that Dr. Erica doesn’t think that I suffered Optic Neuritis when my attack hit.
Dr. Erica has given me permission to drive, but Tom hasn’t been so forthcoming. He’s already planning to slap a “Student Driver” sign on the side of the Malibu tomorrow, to take me out for a practice run. I wouldn’t be surprised if I woke up to see a giant eye chart hanging in the living room. Apparently I scared him rather badly when I called him from the highway — driving and virtually blind. He doesn’t want to relive that episode again. We went out to lunch today and bumped into my good friend Tracy Emke. I spun my head around to see if it was really her and the quick motion to the left nearly brought my lunch back up into the picture. I just need to get used to the new way I see the world, and move my body, not my eyes when I want to look to the left.
Dr. Erica seemed rather positive about my prognosis, so Tom and I are approaching the outlook the same. In a week or so, a nurse will visit our house and teach us how to administer my injections. Now that ought to be an interesting evening in La Casa de Fabrizio. I’ve decided to opt for daily injections of Copaxone, a glatiramer acetate — a synthetically produced facsimile of four naturally occurring amino acids. It’s a subcutaneous injection (vs. the intramuscular injection of another M.S. drug called Avonex). Tom and I chose Copaxone because of its lower risk of significant side effects, the ease (we hope) of the injection process, and the efficacy studies we read about when learning about treatment options.
Tom’s also hopping me up on vitamins and has vowed to keep me healthy this winter. Apparently, it’s very important for M.S. patients to avoid illness at all cost (it is an autoimmune disease after all). I’m eager to begin to exercise again and to begin to build some significant muscle strength. I’ve decided that this journey really isn’t about me being sick. It’s about me being well! We’re on a road to wellness and good health. I just hope I’m the one that gets to drive the car!
A little more about Dr. Grazioli:
Northshore Clinical Associates:
120 East 2nd Street, Third Floor, Erie, PA 16507
814-452-8300
MedicalSchool: Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. Residency: Hamot Medical Center. Fellowships: Jacobs Neurological Institute. Areas of Special Interest: Multiple Sclerosis. Recent research on Optimal Coherence Tomography and its ability to help detect MS.
Calling Dr. Erica Grazioli “just” a neurologist is a shortcoming. She’s truly an M.S. specialist and Tom and I met with Dr. Erica today for the first time since I was released from the hospital. It was a great meeting! Tom and I left feeling like it was the Sunniest day we’ve had in a long time. After the appointment, we went to lunch, sang in the car, picked up more medications, and spent the day filled with great hope and lots of laughter. (Especially when we stopped at the store, split up momentarily, and I had to call his cell phone because I got a little disoriented and couldn’t see well enough to find him easily).
We’re not sure if my eyesight will really ever go back to “normal” again. The best way I can describe what’s going on is to tell you to look straight ahead. Then, without moving your head, take both of your eyes and look to the right. Then look to the left. When I try to look to the left with both of my eyes, I can’t. They don’t seem to easily move in that direction any longer. They’re moving better than they were when I was in the hospital, but they’re still off. It’s like they get stuck on the journey over to the other side. Things remain a little blurry; it really comes and goes. The good news is that Dr. Erica doesn’t think that I suffered Optic Neuritis when my attack hit.
Dr. Erica has given me permission to drive, but Tom hasn’t been so forthcoming. He’s already planning to slap a “Student Driver” sign on the side of the Malibu tomorrow, to take me out for a practice run. I wouldn’t be surprised if I woke up to see a giant eye chart hanging in the living room. Apparently I scared him rather badly when I called him from the highway — driving and virtually blind. He doesn’t want to relive that episode again. We went out to lunch today and bumped into my good friend Tracy Emke. I spun my head around to see if it was really her and the quick motion to the left nearly brought my lunch back up into the picture. I just need to get used to the new way I see the world, and move my body, not my eyes when I want to look to the left.
Dr. Erica seemed rather positive about my prognosis, so Tom and I are approaching the outlook the same. In a week or so, a nurse will visit our house and teach us how to administer my injections. Now that ought to be an interesting evening in La Casa de Fabrizio. I’ve decided to opt for daily injections of Copaxone, a glatiramer acetate — a synthetically produced facsimile of four naturally occurring amino acids. It’s a subcutaneous injection (vs. the intramuscular injection of another M.S. drug called Avonex). Tom and I chose Copaxone because of its lower risk of significant side effects, the ease (we hope) of the injection process, and the efficacy studies we read about when learning about treatment options.
Tom’s also hopping me up on vitamins and has vowed to keep me healthy this winter. Apparently, it’s very important for M.S. patients to avoid illness at all cost (it is an autoimmune disease after all). I’m eager to begin to exercise again and to begin to build some significant muscle strength. I’ve decided that this journey really isn’t about me being sick. It’s about me being well! We’re on a road to wellness and good health. I just hope I’m the one that gets to drive the car!
A little more about Dr. Grazioli:
Northshore Clinical Associates:
120 East 2nd Street, Third Floor, Erie, PA 16507
814-452-8300
MedicalSchool: Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. Residency: Hamot Medical Center. Fellowships: Jacobs Neurological Institute. Areas of Special Interest: Multiple Sclerosis. Recent research on Optimal Coherence Tomography and its ability to help detect MS.