When you are living with multiple sclerosis sometimes you don’t feel like celebrating. Especially, if you live near Phoenix and high temperature on the day of your celebration was 111 degrees. I was feeling fatigued, overheated and wanted to stay in bed all day. I was considering cancelling the dinner, but there was one party guest that had been waiting months for this night.
I had promised my son that we would go to Rustler’s Rooste, a famous Phoenix steakhouse, known for serving Rattlesnake. My oldest son is currently obsessed with snakes. A couple months back, he attended a birthday party that had an entertainer with exotic animals. At that party, he got to handle a snake and has wanted one ever since. I made the mistake of mentioning to him that a Phoenix steak house served Rattlesnake as an appetizer. He made me promise that I would take him for Rattlesnake. Even though I didn’t feel like going out, he needed me to live up to that promise.
As I laid in bed before needed to get up and get ready to go to the steakhouse, I contemplated how MS had stopped me from going to other social events in the past. For a period of time, I had isolated myself from my friends and family because of how I felt. It got to the point where people stopped inviting me to events because they knew I wasn’t going to show. Now, here I was on the verge of letting MS fatigue and heat intolerance affect celebrating my own birthday and sacrifice the promise I made to my son…
To read the rest of the story please click on this link: http://blog.mymsaa.org/celebrating-my-birthday-despite-ms/
About the Author
Matt Cavallo
Author, keynote speaker, healthcare leader, and storyteller. Twenty years with MS, turned into stories that move readers, audiences, and healthcare leaders alike.
