Wow! Here I am on another adventure. I’ve had one blog up and running for almost two years (just finished #92 this morning), and here I am starting another. In my write2unpack blog I write about things that are sexy, things that are uplifting, and random things like why people look like their dogs. In this blog I’m going to journal my life with my husband who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis. I’m hopeful our journey will resonate with others who suffer from MS, their caregivers, and the families who love them.
I’ve reduced my hours in the law firm from 40 hours to 20 hours per week. Jeff and I discussed it and when the opportunity presented itself – we took it. Reducing my hours at work was the easy decision, trying to figure out how to live with ½ income has been a little tougher. I asked my boss if I could go ahead and receive full wages but only work part-time and he said no. He’s unreasonable like that.
I reduced my hours to be more present at home. I have 12 and 10 year old sons at home, and a retired husband with really sucky coordination. He falls down fairly often and I was worried he’d really hurt himself, one of the boys, or be really hurt when they were there and they’d be unable to help him. Now, when I say “really hurt himself” I’m not talking about the three times he’s fallen and cracked his ribs, or the broken toe, I mean REALLY HURT himself. Hurt to the point of needing immediate medical care and he wouldn’t be able to get it, or my young children would see it and be unable to help. Bad news for all involved… so I cut my hours.
On the upside I’m home with the boys to help get them off to school, and home to fix them a snack in the afternoon while J rests, and I get to work on my writing more as well as helping J develop his CBD Oil business.
What’s CBD Oil you ask? Glad you did! CBD is short for cannabidiol and is found in hemp, but also is part of the cannabis plant. Yes, that’s right, Marijuana. CBD is the medicinal part and has many medical benefits. THC is the part that gets you high. While I live in Washington state, and marijuana is legal medicinally and recreationally, CBD oil is NOT illegal in any of the states (disclaimer: that I am presently aware of). Here’s a link to some quick information about CBD.
J and I stumbled on CBD oil quite accidentally. Our daughter-in-law worked at a local health food store and brought J some CBD oil to try. J has a myriad of symptoms from MS, one of them being these weird “leg seizures.” He gets what feel like electrical shocks in his feet that cause his legs to lock up. He takes Baclofen for that, and is maxed out on the daily dose – trust me, we asked his neuro if he could increase it and she said, “Um, no. Sorry.” One night when his legs were bothering him, and also me (Don’t judge. Any of you sit next to someone who keeps jerking and locking his legs you’ll know what I mean. It’s unpleasant), so he decided to try it.
Now, it was night time, and the oil is in a dark bottle, and it said to start with two pumps. Well, I kept thinking that it wasn’t coming out and actually gave him about 10 pumps. It was like magic! His legs were still for the first time in a long time! And I don’t think you can overdose on CBD, so it was also great knowing I didn’t just poison my husband.
If you have a partner, this can lead to problems developing online doctor viagra in your relationship. You can use the cipla cialis india and get huge discounts from the price of the ED medications, The medications available on our website is manufactured by the renowned healthcare experts to cure low sperm count. In this kind of treatment the patient is given complete counseling sildenafil generic canada about sexual practice so that he can develop healthy erections for a pleasing intimate moment spent in the bed Some physical and psychological changes can affect the function of reproductive system and can make it harder to keep erections during sexual act in the bed. In a word, the cost of this levitra without prescription is not so much available in the open and even address their spelevitrats. Not only were his leg seizures quieted to almost nothing, but he didn’t “run” in his sleep either. Let me explain: as soon as J would fall asleep his body would start moving – and not just a little. Every… single… muscle in his body would move constantly. It was like lying next to someone who was trying to run a marathon in his sleep – not restful for him or for me. But the CBD oil changed that. That’s when he decided that this stuff was magic and he wanted to tell others about how great CBD oil was. He sells it on his website (www.livingwithjeff.com), which we’re still working on (so be nice about it, would ya?) and hope to have tons more information added in the near future. CBD oil has been proven beneficial for: seizure and tremor disorders, memory, mood, pain control, anxiety, lupus, arthritis, nausea, and an increase in benefit when combined with antipsychotic meds. One thing CBD will not do is get you high. Seriously. Let me say it again, “CBD oil will not get you high.” THC is the psychotropic part of cannabis that gets you high. You should check it out, but I’ll talk more about it later in a later post anyway.
Despite how great it is, this blog is not about the wonders of CBD oil. It’s about J and MS, and what it does to everyone. MS sucks. My hope by writing this is to let others know they’re not alone. MS affects everyone differently, but it affects everyone. It impacts my relationship with my husband, his relationship with his young sons, his very different his role as a father now than to his older children, his ability to work around the house, his ability to drive, and has now impacted us financially with my reduction in hours.
Oh, hey, by the way, did you know that in the State of Washington you can get paid to be a caregiver to your adult disabled child, but you cannot get paid to be a caregiver for your disabled spouse? Yeah, call your representative. I could divorce J and get paid to be his caregiver, I even have a client who had to do that very thing, but we’re not there yet and I’m hopeful things will change before we ever reach that point.
Anyway, this is our journey with MS. I invite you to come along and share in our joys, failures, struggles, and perhaps some will resonate with you. I’m not alone in this journey and neither are you. Welcome.
My thoughts are my own, but my pictures are generally found on Pinterest or via Google. If what I write resonates with you please share with your friends or someone you think would like it! We’d love it if you follow us on Facebook (Melissa Gale or Living With Jeff), or Twitter (@livingwjeff or @write2unpack). If you have any topics you’d like to talk about, reach out to me at write2unpack@gmail.com, or Jeff at livingwithjeff61@gmail.com. Oh, hey, and if you sign up here to follow me you’ll never miss a post!