The other evening, Tom and I were watching a rather scary movie, so I asked him to give up his “throne” (a giant, blue, chair-and-a-half, with an equally giant ottoman) to move over to the couch with me. I don’t know what it is about scary movies; they just don’t seem as scary when you’re watching them in close proximity to another living, breathing, human being whose skin isn’t melting off of his face.
I had just given myself my injection, so I had my arm wrapped into an ice pack and I was trying to get comfortable on the couch. I asked if he would sit at the end of the couch and let me just stretch my legs onto his lap. He agreed, I stretched, and then both legs went completely numb from knees to toes. That wasn’t going to work. So, I curled my legs up next to his ribs and we both became engrossed in the movie.
Then, out of nowhere, I kicked Tom swiftly and almost viciously, right in his ribcage. He shouted and looked at me as if to ask, “What the hell are you doing??” He was grabbing his right side and all I could say was, “It wasn’t me!” I paused, realizing how ridiculous that sounded. It reminded me of my step kids when they were little and would do something wrong. It wasn’t me who didn’t flush the toilet! It wasn’t me who spilled the juice on the carpet. So, I spoke again. “Well, it was me, it was my foot, but it wasn’t my fault. My leg just kicked you on its own.”
His response? “Sunshine, you don’t have palsy, you have M.S.!”
I let it go, because I was about to retort with, “Well, what did you think I was doing sweetie? Did you think I just wanted to scare the bejeezers out of you so I Karate kicked you deep in the ribs just for fun?” Instead, we decided to switch sides on the couch with me leaning up against him. He thought that at least if I decided to slug him with my fist he would see it coming.
The next day, he sauntered into my office at home while I was working on my laptop. He had just retold the story, rather comically, to my father-in-law. I pulled him beside me and the computer and opened the list of M.S. symptoms. I pointed directly to the definition of M.S. spasms and cramps and the explanation that sometimes M.S. patients will suffer from involuntary contractions of muscles.
I then read to him about Myoclonus, a symptom that is represented by sudden and uncontrollable jerks of a muscle or a group of muscles. The word, “myoclonus”, comes from “myo” meaning muscle and “clonus” meaning twitch. It can happen at rest (negative myoclonus) or with movement (positive myoclonus).
I didn’t go so far as to pull up the definitions of the various forms of Palsy (Bell’s, Brachial, or Cerebral) because he seemed to accept that M.S. could indeed cause me to involuntarily kick him in the ribs without warning. I found it interesting though, that some M.S. patients do indeed suffer from Bell’s Palsy as well. The Bell’s Palsy-like symptoms only occur when a patient has a lesion in the Pons area of the brain stem. But, Bell’s Palsy doesn’t cause an M.S. patient to involuntary kick her husband in the ribs. It causes facial paralysis on one side of the face.
So, no I don’t have Palsy, and yes, I do have symptoms that may cause my leg to take on a life of its own. While I’m happy we have that little dispute resolved, I’m also equally disappointed. I’m pretty certain I’m going to be watching scary movies solo on the couch going forward. That or I’m going to have to invest in some body armor before the hubby agrees to join me for some cuddle-time in the near future.
The other evening, Tom and I were watching a rather scary movie, so I asked him to give up his “throne” (a giant, blue, chair-and-a-half, with an equally giant ottoman) to move over to the couch with me. I don’t know what it is about scary movies; they just don’t seem as scary when you’re watching them in close proximity to another living, breathing, human being whose skin isn’t melting off of his face.
I had just given myself my injection, so I had my arm wrapped into an ice pack and I was trying to get comfortable on the couch. I asked if he would sit at the end of the couch and let me just stretch my legs onto his lap. He agreed, I stretched, and then both legs went completely numb from knees to toes. That wasn’t going to work. So, I curled my legs up next to his ribs and we both became engrossed in the movie.
Then, out of nowhere, I kicked Tom swiftly and almost viciously, right in his ribcage. He shouted and looked at me as if to ask, “What the hell are you doing??” He was grabbing his right side and all I could say was, “It wasn’t me!” I paused, realizing how ridiculous that sounded. It reminded me of my step kids when they were little and would do something wrong. It wasn’t me who didn’t flush the toilet! It wasn’t me who spilled the juice on the carpet. So, I spoke again. “Well, it was me, it was my foot, but it wasn’t my fault. My leg just kicked you on its own.”
His response? “Sunshine, you don’t have palsy, you have M.S.!”
I let it go, because I was about to retort with, “Well, what did you think I was doing sweetie? Did you think I just wanted to scare the bejeezers out of you so I Karate kicked you deep in the ribs just for fun?” Instead, we decided to switch sides on the couch with me leaning up against him. He thought that at least if I decided to slug him with my fist he would see it coming.
The next day, he sauntered into my office at home while I was working on my laptop. He had just retold the story, rather comically, to my father-in-law. I pulled him beside me and the computer and opened the list of M.S. symptoms. I pointed directly to the definition of M.S. spasms and cramps and the explanation that sometimes M.S. patients will suffer from involuntary contractions of muscles.
I then read to him about Myoclonus, a symptom that is represented by sudden and uncontrollable jerks of a muscle or a group of muscles. The word, “myoclonus”, comes from “myo” meaning muscle and “clonus” meaning twitch. It can happen at rest (negative myoclonus) or with movement (positive myoclonus).
I didn’t go so far as to pull up the definitions of the various forms of Palsy (Bell’s, Brachial, or Cerebral) because he seemed to accept that M.S. could indeed cause me to involuntarily kick him in the ribs without warning. I found it interesting though, that some M.S. patients do indeed suffer from Bell’s Palsy as well. The Bell’s Palsy-like symptoms only occur when a patient has a lesion in the Pons area of the brain stem. But, Bell’s Palsy doesn’t cause an M.S. patient to involuntary kick her husband in the ribs. It causes facial paralysis on one side of the face.
So, no I don’t have Palsy, and yes, I do have symptoms that may cause my leg to take on a life of its own. While I’m happy we have that little dispute resolved, I’m also equally disappointed. I’m pretty certain I’m going to be watching scary movies solo on the couch going forward. That or I’m going to have to invest in some body armor before the hubby agrees to join me for some cuddle-time in the near future.