Most Sundays, I devote my blog to the stories of others who let their Moonlight times inspire them to let the positive blossom from the negative. Today I’m featuring the story of Lauren Parrott.
Lauren is 24 years old and has had M.S. for eight years. Despite suffering from rather serious tremors and a variety of other symptoms, Lauren has chosen to tell the world her story via personal speaking engagements and video journaling.
Lauren has posted a number of videos of her story on YouTube. This one, discussing her relapse, was very touching to me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NszHrbeA8sU.
Here’s what makes her special. Lauren has exposed herself, demonstrating her symptoms for the world to see, all so we can learn from her. It is one thing to write about symptoms, it’s another to provide a video diary of what a patient experiences.
This video shows Lauren in the hospital, receiving Solumedrol (ten treatments – two per day for five days) for her relapse: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JMhi-9gReM&feature=related.
Lauren has selected Tysabri as her most recent treatment of choice. This is a video of one of her infusions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlQ0eywHIuE&feature=related\. As I prepare just jump on the Ty-Train, I found this video to be particularly helpful. Lastly, you can follow Lauren’s journey by visiting her personal web site: http://www.laurenparrott.com/.
Lauren’s a young woman, but as you’ll see from her videos, she’s wise beyond her years.
Interested in submitting a story for O Sole Mio Sundays? What are the rules? There really aren’t any. I don’t care if your story is long or short. It doesn’t matter what your Moonlight situation was — whether M.S.- related or something else. Submit your stories to me and I’ll post them here. A lot of folks read this blog, so please let me know if you’d like your email address included with your story. Send along a photo if you’d like and I’ll post it, too. The only request I have is that you make a connection for my readers, explaining how your Moonlight inspired you. Describe the opportunities and the gifts you received from your Moonlight times and find a positive side to your story. Not everyone likes to talk about themselves, so if you have story about a loved one, a friend, someone who inspired you, send me their stories, too. As you can tell, we also take recommendations of nationally-published news stories that follow the themes portrayed here on Sunshine and Moonlight. Please submit appropriate links and citations when necessary. Click here to send Kim YOUR story! And, then be sure to visit Sunshine and Moonlight each Sunday for O Sole Mio Sundays!
Wow, that’s great stuff. She’s very brave to go through all that so publicly. Watching her going navigating her exacerbation and steroid treatment (THEY MISSED THE VEIN! OH COME ON! Grrrr…), all with a smile on her face, made me laugh and want to give her a hug at the same time.
When I went in for my first IV Solumedrol treatment, the ONLY bed in the hospital was on the acute geriatric ward. I was like a rock star on that floor only because I could walk, talk and answer questions (and whine and complain loudly!), in tandem with being The Interesting Patient in a teaching hospital, which I can assure you you DO NOT want to be. I also shared my room with a diabetic Viet Nam vet with severe sleep apnea and a bad back. That poor guy. He was great when he was awake and killed me when he was asleep, not that I could sleep on the steroids anyway. Ah the memories. Good times.
Anyway, thanks for sharing, Kim, and GO LAUREN!
people don’t realize that most of the apnea is psychosomatic at the root cause