Monday 12 February 2007

the indians send signals from the rocks above the pass....

So there we were, watching "University Challenge" on the telly as we ate our tea. One of the bonus questions was a picture round: three pictures of three different breeds of cat; each breed was named after a country; name the breed. There was a Russian Blue, a British Shorthair and a Norwegian Forest Cat. This last one was a funny-looking long-haired white thing with shimmering blue eyes.

I turned to C. "That's also called a Skoggkatt"
She looked at me.
"A what?"
"A Skoggkatt"
"What does that mean?"
"Norwegian Forest Cat"
"You are making that up"
"No I'm not"
"How do you spell it?"
"S-C-O-G-G-K-A-T-T"

C. shook her head and reached for the laptop.
"You don't believe me do you?"
"No. I'm calling your bluff"
She knows me far too well. There was a short pause, interrupted only by the gentle tapping of keys. After a couple of minutes, C. looked up at me.
"It doesn't exist"
"It bloody does!"
"Alright, it does exist, but it's spelt with a 'K', not with a 'C'" She shook her head again. "You're always bloody doing this."
I smiled smugly. "Of course, in Norway they just call it the Forest Cat"

She's going to catch me out soon.... but not today.

---

I went back to see my neurologist this afternoon to discuss my new symptoms. I described what I had been feeling, but obviously there isn't an easy way for sure of knowing what is going on inside my nervous system. There are two possibilities apparently: either I am suffering some late developing symptoms from my existing lesion, or I have developed some new lesions. The former would mean that things haven't really changed but - after 20 months - I still haven't seen the end of the symptoms. The latter would probably mean I had MS but that I could look to start some treatment (although there is no cure). Neither option is especially enticing, to be honest

More MRI scans to follow - the first glimpse inside my head since August 2005.

Woo-hoo.

5 comments:

  1. if the strength of will and the power of wishing could cure, you would be by now from the love of the blogoverse alone.

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  2. Skoggkatt, indeed. Poor C. :)

    My class just had a course on what to say when people are dealing with illnesses. I am supposed to say "I am sorry you are hurting. It's normal to feel sad or upset, and it's OK to cry." Did that help?

    Seriously though...I am sorry to hear you are dealing with more of the WTs, and whatever you feel about it, I'm here to support you.

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  3. Skogkatt? You're a bleedin' chancer you are! ;-)

    Well, crappy as it is, at least some scans would help end the uncertainty. If you do end up starting treatment, hopefully it will arrest it and relieve some of the symptoms...
    *fingers crossed*

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  4. My only knowledge of University Challenge comes from an episode of "The Young Ones" I saw around 1985 in which Neil, Vyv, Mike, and Rick compete. Mayhem ensues.

    The closest thing we have is Jeopardy. Do you get that show there?

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  5. Sorry to hear you're less than chipper. Hopefully the scans will bring good news, or at least no bad news.

    (I'd be afraid if they looked in my head. My brother has a saying to describe someone who's not the sharpest - "A heid full of deid wasps" - which I like very much. And there's a bit of Doric for you...

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