He was
(and hopefully still is) small, enthusiastic and quite magnificently Welsh. He
loved his subject with a passion – a passion that he tried his hardest to
instill in his students.
Our lessons
were full of him leaping on tables, whirling around rooms, re-enacting great
speeches or taking us on wind-swept trips to ruined castles.
He was
absolutely fascinated by the past, but his favourite mantra was one coined not
by an historian, but by a writer.
The
author in question was L.P. Hartley and the mantra was the first sentence of his
1953 novel The Go-Between: “The past is a foreign country; they do things
differently there.”
And this week, as I hit 14 years with MS, I’ve been thinking about my own past, my own foreign
country.
And like
all history, there is the bigger picture – the revolutions, the wars,
the political and technological game-changers. And then there are the individual
portraits – the fireside, the family and the personal progress.
My bigger
picture involves research, information, access to professionals and disease
modifying drugs.
Fourteen years after my diagnosis, research is discovering the potentials for new treatments,
new ways of predicting prognosis and a greater understanding of the role of genetics.
The
wealth of information available is at an all-time high – websites, blogs,
vlogs, tweets, support groups, local branches, soap opera storylines and
publications are available to
anyone newly diagnosed. (Although some need to be viewed with a degree of
caution.)
Access to
neurologists, MS nurses and physiotherapists as well as courses on fatigue
management, emotional support and dietary advice is, at least in my local area,
much better than the "Oh you’ve got MS, here’s a leaflet now go away"
appointment I got after diagnosis.
And since
2004, a number of new DMDs have become available. Yes, there are still issues when it comes to accessing drugs
and still not
enough treatments for all forms of the disease, but it’s moving forward.
My
individual portrait involves my working life, family life, friendships,
symptoms and the person I am versus the person I was.
My
working life I’ve covered,
same for my family life
and friendships.
Pretty sure I’ve talked at length about my symptoms
and the person I was then and am now.
There have been immense changes in the 14 years since my diagnosis, making a truth of L.P. Hartley's words.
But the future is a foreign country too - and although I’m taking my Tecfidera, striving to be positive and rolling with the punches, I can only hope that these are the right travel guides.
There have been immense changes in the 14 years since my diagnosis, making a truth of L.P. Hartley's words.
But the future is a foreign country too - and although I’m taking my Tecfidera, striving to be positive and rolling with the punches, I can only hope that these are the right travel guides.
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