Needles and pins

I've been to London for a couple of days this week with work.

We've launched a new programme aimed at improving the lives of children and young people who live with parents who drink too much.

One of our keynote speakers was the current shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth who spoke very movingly from personal experience. (On reflection, I perhaps should have tried to grab him after his speech to raise the profile of MS.)

It was a successful and emotional event. But very, very tiring.

As a result, I have come home with a horribly familiar sensation - pins and needles.

They're in both my hands and - at the present moment - my right foot. They may spread, they may not. Who can say.

In the scheme of MS symptoms, they're at the lesser end of the scale. But they are still rather unpleasant.

And they remind me very much of my first relapse. Which I am finding unsettling.

Funny isn't it? Fifteen years with MS and I think I've mainly come to terms with it. But when I'm tired and emotional - and tingly - the full weight of this disease hits me.

I carried on this week like anyone else - train travel, tube negotiation, hotel booking, dinner with colleagues, important work event - and it was almost like I was a healthy person.

But what's currently needling me is that I'm not.

I thought I'd got used to re-adjusting my expectations, but it only takes one pin to pop the bubble.

:: Needles and pins by The Searchers