About MSsays
My whole life I wanted to be a writer, but I didn’t know what to write about. The only thing that worked was writing about myself. This newsletter started as a teaching blog, but I think I’m an OK teacher, not one who has wisdom to share. But now that my MS has gone public, I have things to say. I finally found something I’m an expert in: Life for me with MS and all its physical, mental, and emotional effects. About accepting my disability, and the creeping acknowledgment that movement doesn’t typically get easier with age. But I’m being proactive by being active; the best fight is a good fight.
I started noticing a drop foot around 2013, usually after a two-mile dog walk in flip-flops. I’d start to plunk my whole foot down at once instead of a heel-strike, and it was never a big deal. Over the years it took less time for the drop foot to kick in, then I fell repeatedly on a protest march and saw the doctor. He referred me to an orthopedist who sent me to a physical therapist who sent me to a neurologist who ran through every test he could dream up. No dice. Then in November, 2019 an MRI of my brain and thoracic spine showed the tell-tale legions of multiple sclerosis.
My lesions are on the left, my issues similarly sinister. There are countless treatment options, I opted for a biannual infusion of Ocrevus (in spite of and not because of the commercials). It went fine, then I participated in a research study for a cutting-edge nasal spray. But as I waited a year for the FDA to approve my continuation, a new legion developed and Foralumab disappeared as an option. Now I’m back on Ocrevus but we’ll see. I currently do physical therapy at Spaulding Cambridge, they rule. I started using a walking stick in late July, 2025.
As a writer: I wrote a couple of network, TV sitcom scripts a million gears ago, plus a lot of journalism and humor over years, for The Boston Phoenix, Time Out, and countless websites that no longer exist. I was a voracious blogger in the early aughts, to some limited notoriety (I got thanked in another blogger’s book). I try to string words together in a pleasant way. As I’ve often said, I was not a good standup because usually my jokes don’t make you go
HAHAHA!!
It’s more like
(QUIETLY NODDING) Say, that’s kinda funny.
Maybe I’d kill at a beatnik standup night. But my time in Hollywood convinced me I’m funnier written down than out loud. So here we are.
Want to start your own?
Go be a writer: Substack.com.
