Why I started writing

I started writing one month after my diagnosis because, quite frankly, I needed to ‘do something’, and I couldn’t think of anything else to do. Given I could barely move and my memories of that time remain hazy, it was all I could do.

I wrote to keep record for myself. 

And I quickly started writing for my immediate family and friends. The blog became a way of communicating without having to explain the latest serious piece of information twenty times in twenty different conversations.

But now, a year later, almost 800 people know LadywithMS.

I find myself with three audiences – my future self, my family and friends, and my growing MS community.

Why I write now

I wrote sporadically in 2014 – whenever something happened or struck me as important. In 2015, I am writing weekly.

I am writing for me, to create a record for myself.

I am writing for family and friends, particularly when I give a detailed health update. Those posts contain the information that I have no desire to repeat ad nauseam in daily life. You know, the ‘I am sick again’ or ‘the drug made me sick’ conversations. I want to talk about what is happening to me with you, but let’s face it: when something goes wrong enough for be to have to announce it, I’m unlikely to have the energy to repeat the basic details every time I say hello to someone. And I’m wary of being defined by this disease: I don’t always want to talk about it.

And I am writing for everyone else out there who has MS. You guys – particularly on Twitter – are emotional lifesavers. The realtime feedback and understanding when I am vulnerable is priceless. I hope I have given the same to some of you out there.