A Trip to the MS Clinic

As I am not under any specific treatment plan, my visits to the MS Clinic have been a yearly affair. But the clinics have been so busy, as each serves a large geographical area. My trip is 200 KM, so imagine the area they pull from.

My annual appointment became every 18 months, and this year even longer. So, when they called with a cancellation, I grabbed at the chance, better than having to do that drive in winter.

But, I still hate the drive alone. Well. not the drive itself as it's an easy highway drive, it's the city streets in a city I don't know (previous visits aside).

I called my brother and he drove over an hour to get here and another almost two hours to get to the clinic. We stopped for lunch half way there, and did a small tour of Kingston, as we got turned around. Obviously my skills as navigator are not the best.

The visit takes time, as you see the nurse, the physiotherapist, and an occupational therapist. This time I had some tests done that support the balance issues I have, and the memory and concentration concerns.

In these cognitive tests, they give you patterns to repeat, like a list of words, and test immediate recall and recall after doing a different task.

They gave me a sentence and I was so surprised, I burst out laughing. Then I had to explain. The sentence was something like (I can't remember exactly, of course) "A man named John will help you today." Of course I laughed, as my brother's name is John, and he was a big help that day.

They asked the date, and of course I knew the day, Tuesday, the month October and the year. But the day gave me a moment's hesitation. I said the 16th, as my bro and I had been talking about it in the car, and he told me it was the 16th.

The OT said it was the 18th. And I said maybe it was my brother who should be having these tests, as I was following his lead. The dates get lost sometimes, once you're retired.

All in all it was a good day. I like the staff, especially my doctor as he's so easy to talk to, and love my brother for his ongoing support.

And the trees were beautiful heading east, the sky glorious on the way back, what more can you ask for?