Starting a new job

Starting a new job can be daunting at the best of times especially when your new job is mainly working from home. It’s weird not being in an office all the time meeting people and having those random conversations you do with your new colleagues but it’s now the world we live in and a lot of people have done it over the last year too so I’m not alone. 

Starting a new job for me is exciting, I like a new challenge and to be out of my comfort zone, but I do always have in the back of my head, I’ll have to tell them I have MS and how do I do that. There’s enough stress starting thinking I hope my team like me/ I hope I’m doing a good job/ I hope I don’t make any mistakes without having to tell them you have MS. 

This time though it was weird because this blog was part of my application. As I work in PR and marketing it made sense to include my blog as evidence of my writing so in one way I didn’t actually have to have that difficult conversation with my manager. 

It was a good way to then start the conversation and I feel like it took the pressure off. Since starting the job I’ve spoke about it when I’ve needed to but not all my team know yet - not because I’m scared I just haven’t been in a situation to tell them. I don’t want to just blurt it out for no reason. 

However I feel really comfortable around them as they’ve made me so welcome and it’s a place of work where there’s no judgement. There’s a group called visABLE which is there for anyone that has a disability in the work place. I thought it would be good group to join as I thought it might help people sharing my story. 

Im looking forward to getting involved in the group and 10 years ago when I was first diagnosed I would have never put myself out there like that but as I’ve got older I’ve realised the more I put myself out there, the more I can help others too.

My second GNR

Last weekend I took part in my second Great North Run. I decided when I signed up not to run for charity as I thought the pressure to give this year would be more than normal after Covid and I wanted to do it for myself; I had done a lot of running in lockdown so wanted to beat my time from four years ago as I was a lot fitter and was getting better at running.

However last years race was postponed so this year I was not prepared, me and my boyfriend have just refurbished our new house, I’ve had a busy summer plus the fact I haven’t been too well the last six months, so I wasn’t in a position to run a fast time like I thought the year before. 

As you all know from reading this blog, my MS treatment had an effect on my thyroid and I have an overactive one which has really has an effect recently.

 I’ve lost 1 and a half stone, been constantly tired and had some visible effects from it. It is a side effect I have to live with which is better than waking up with MS symptoms, but it really took it out of me. Some days I couldn’t be bothered to even interact with people, and I would fall asleep as soon as I was lying down, which normally isn’t the case since I’m quite a hyper, sociable person.  

It was also making me not want to run as I was scared, I wasn’t going to run far, my motivation was from 100 to zero.

So I was starting to get anxious about the run as I’m quite a competitive person and I knew I wasn’t going to do as well as I thought I would so on Thursday (four days before the event) I decided to set up a Just Giving page to raise money for the MS Trust and I am so glad I did! 

I’ve doubled my target already and I really felt like I had a purpose running. Just want to say thank you to everyone has supported me.

I also knocked 2 minutes off my last time, so I did better than I thought. But I am determined to knock more time off so it won’t be my last GNR.

Thank you to everyone who donated and if you want to just go on my Just Giving page x

 

No new lesions - woohooo!

I have wanted to write a blog for a couple of weeks now and thought of a few different ideas but just didn’t write them. I don’t like to write a blog for the sake of it because it’s not very useful to people and that’s the whole purpose of my writing really.

I was going to write about stress and MS, am I clumsy or is it my MS and how to bring my MS into a conversation for awareness rather than sympathy. But then on Saturday I received a letter from the hospital about my recent MRI scan and found out over the last year I have had no new lesions – wooo!

For anyone not in the MS world, this means the treatment I am on has been working and it’s stopped my nerves getting damaged. A new lesion means a relapse so it means I haven’t had any sort of relapse in the last year (hidden or visible). I get a MRI scan every year to monitor it.

This has been a massive relief for me and I’m really happy how effective the treatment has been. Although I’ve had some side effects since going on the treatment (the main one developing an over active thyroid) it has been the best option for me and how my MS affects me.

The treatment I was previously on had stopped working and I had a couple of relapses so the consultant decided to change it. This was the best option for my age and it meant I didn’t have to take a tablet every day. It also meant that when I was ready to start a family I could without having to change my treatment plan. So, it was the best decision for me and others around me.

Looking back to nine years ago when I first got diagnosed, I was lost and frustrated, and I didn’t think there was much of a future for me. My life could have been totally different if I didn’t listen to the advice from my consultants. I feel healthier than ever and let’s hope I’m saying the same thing in 10 years time.