Quality of Life for Children

Here is my contribution last week about Pediatric MS in MultipleSclerosisCentral.com. Children with MS are subject to a Quality of Life that plummets.

This is a section of Health Central.

Pediatric MS: Quality of Life?

by Vicki on Multiple Sclerosis
Friday, August 20 2010

Young people with multiple sclerosis still make up a small minority of those with the disease, and it has been only recently that Pediatric MS has even been recognized. Just as with MS when it was first recognized, diagnostic criteria were unclear and treatments were on a trial-and-error basis. There was not a great deal of awareness of ... Read more

Projection and Identification - Otto Rank

“The richer–that is, the more varied and complete–the individual’s emotional life, the less is he driven to projection, and the more will he incline to identification. His outlet and satisfaction comes in identifying himself with the emotions of the other. On the other hand, the narrower and more restricted the individual’s emotional life, the more intense will be his fewer emotions, the less will he be inclined to, and capable of, identification–the lack of which he has to compensate for by prnjection. Projection thus proves to be a compensatory mechanism that adjusts for an inner lack. Identification, on the other hand, is an expression of abundance, of the desire for union, for alliance, for sharing. “

From a letter to Jessie Taft, quoted in Ernest Becker’s Denial of Death, page ix

Pediatric MS - MS-like Symptoms

Here is my contribution to the articles written last week about Pediatric MS in MultipleSclerosisCentral.com. Children and young adults may exhibit MS-like symptoms that may never develop into MS.

This is a section of Health Central.

Pediatric MS: Is it MS?

by Vicki on Multiple Sclerosis
Thursday, August 12 2010

When a child exhibits MS-like symptoms, it probably means he or she has a problem with myelin. Whether the diagnosis turns out to be MS or not depends on the condition and the lesions. Kids Get MS, Too, by Jayne Ness MD-PhD FAAP, FAAN, tells the story of children 18 and under who have demyelinating conditions. It was published by the ... Read more

and Lisa Emrich wrote:

Pediatric MS Centers of Excellence - Read more

Pediatric MS: Resources for Kids, Teens, and Parents - Read more

Let it Rain...

Ever find something, folded, tattered in a book or scroll through old writings thoughts you had saved...Only to realize you had written it? This struck a chord with me tonight. Not sure why...well, that's a bit of an ommission. There are many reasons why, just I don't feel like sharing it right now. Nah....

Onward:

She stood at the door,
leaning back
against the jam.
Her eyes
trace, as
Water spit and spattered
onto the glass.
Pupils wide
following as droplets
skid
down, the smooth surface.
Her eyes swollen
tired
and fixed.
As were my feet
my voice.
I stood
watching
her long gazes,
endlessly lost
Out into the world.
Her face smattered
wet. Her
tears
trickled,
no
they eased over the bones
of her face.
Sliding down
to her neck.
No sounds.
No utterances
from her throat.
Isolation of her mind.

The rain pelted
harder.
smacking the pane.
Her stare
her pain
her heart
her tears.
Her lips, softly moved.
"When will the rain stop?"
"When you would
choose it to,
I suppose.", My reply.

The rain will cleanse
the void in your soul.
free you of those chains
the bindings, holding you
now.
The rain will then,
fill you again
with the purest
of love.
Of truth.
The rain never ceases.
It goes on.
Forever channeling
etching
Pieces of us.
When a piece wears too
thin,
and breaks free
The rain washes
it away.
Sweeping it down
the elongated
moving puddles.
Emptying out
Into the Abyss.

Grieving
this loss.
Countless
Amongst our
many.
We free ourselves.

So, you see,
The rain will not cease
because we say it shall.
It moves.
It falls.
One day, pouring
Another
drizzle.
Always bathing
A new
Replenishing.
Shed your tears
My dear dear friend.
Liberate yourself.
Let the Rain
be.
Let it be.

Introduction to Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis

Here is the introduction for articles written this month about Pediatric MS in MultipleSclerosisCentral.com. For years MS was considered a disease of young adults. More research has found there are older people being diagnosed, but there are also teens, children, very young children — and even babies!

Pediatric MS is recognized by the medical community, but more education and more awareness is needed. MS is not affecting just young adults. MS possibly affects everyone. This is a section of Health Central.

Pediatric MS - We Did Not Know

by Vicki on Multiple Sclerosis
Wednesday, August 04 2010

Education about Pediatric MS is on the rise, and more children under 18 are being diagnosed with MS. With all of the new information and education, there is still a need for awareness that children have MS, too. Children are often misdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all. For so long, MS was misunderstood. In the 1950's, when I was a child, it was... Read more