1. Camp Latona

2. Little Flower Academy – high school

3. Solo trip to Europe

4. Purdue University — SLP study, work as a staff resident, trips to Chicago, Toronto, and New Orleans

5. Marshfield Clinic — clinical fellowship in Speech-Language Pathology

6. SLP work at GF Strong Rehab Centre — community outreach service, outpatient program, special, memorable clients

7. Volunteer at Vancouver Writers Festival — picking up writers at the airport, including Rohinton Mistry (his first trip to Vancouver and I showed him around Granville Island on the way to his hotel) and hosting a couple of memorable events, including ones with Alberta Manguel, Michael Moore, Sherman Alexie and many others

8. Went to a Harvard Continuing Education week in Boston on “The Neurology of Behavior” hosted by Antonio Damasio . Also managed to squeeze in a Vancouver Canucks vs Boston Bruins game at the old Boston Garden. Pavel Bure scored the overtime winning goal 4-3. On that same trip, I took the train up to Stamford, Connecticut to see very good old friends (Martha and Phil) and had a personalized tour of the highlights of New York City that included an elevator ride to the top of one of the World Trade Center towers.

9. Travel to visit good friend in Vermont and drive through several states and see the fall colours in Quebec, New Hampshire and Maine as well as Vermont

10. Finding my biological family in 1997 and a new cousin in 2014.

11. Daniel and the summer of 1998

12. Buying my dream house in 1999

13. Many trips to Merville, Vancouver Island and Saturna Island, thanks to generous friends

14. Road trip to Yosemite National Park via Washington, Oregon and California coasts in 2000

15. Trip to Helsinki, St. Petersburg (Russia) and the Baltics (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) in 2001

16. Trips to Haida Gwaii — first one solo in 1996 and second one with Daniel in 2002

17. Winning media award from national SLP organization and going to St. John’s Newfoundland to receive the award in 2003.

18. Founding of the BC Aphasia Centre (2000) with lengthy article by Daphne Bramham in the Vancouver Sun (2003), Volunteer Vancouver Award nomination and CBC National Radio interview with Shelagh Rogers, June 24, 2004 ( see media page )

19. Provincial jobs — great opportunity to learn new skills and learn more about the diversity of British Columbia with two contract positions: Coordinator for “Strengthening Families and Youth” with Canadian Mental Health Association, BC Division, and Provincial Consultant for Pediatric Therapists, contract through the Ministry for Children and Youth. The website I started is still there!

20. My dad’s death — I wrote a special letter to my dad on his 75th birthday to make sure that he knew how important he was to me in my life. When he declined suddenly with aggressive cancer two years later, I was glad that I had done that as we had little time for quality conversation. A talented friend help me make a beautiful funeral card for him.

21. Politics – I enjoyed getting involved in federal politics and went to my first national convention in late 2006. Being involved with the election of our local MP last year was also a life highlight.

22. I got involved with the Women’s Campaign School with the Canadian Women Voters Congress . I was president from 2008 to 2011. I met a lot of interesting people and learned a lot in that time.

23. Florida and astronauts. We were invited to the launch of STS-125 by a Purdue colleague, Drew Feustel, in 2009. It was a great and memorable experience. The year before I had a chance to meet Marc Garneau , Canadian astronaut through politics, (I found myself in a foyer alone with him and told him about Drew Feustel whom he referred to as “the half-Canadian”); John Herrington , the first American Indigenous astronaut, through a friend who was working on a children’s show through APTN. And then we got to meet Drew’s crewmate and space walk partner; John Grunsfeld , when he was giving a lecture at UBC about repairing Hubble and his experiences as an astronaut. Drew’s wife Indi let him know that we were attending the lecture so it made it easy to approach and chat with him before the talk.

24. Being present for my mother’s death in 2010 and organizing a funeral with her ahead of time and having it work out so beautifully.

25. Being well enough to travel again with Daniel, with a trip to Washington, DC, Long Island (to see my sister) and NYC.

26. Being well enough to enjoy life — good food, riding my bike, seeing friends again after changing my diet and becoming inspired and a follower of Dr. Terry Wahls and having the chance to meet her !

by Daniel Ouellet (husband and guest blogger)

Quite a while ago, Jennifer asked me if I would write a guest blog post, and I accepted eagerly although I didn’t know what to write about at the time. I let the idea simmer for a bit. I wanted in some way to portray my perspective on her story, or my experience as a witness to her ordeal and pain. Then it dawned on me that what many people seem to marvel at is that I stayed at her side through this hell, so I decided to write about why I stayed.

Chronic illness is a deal-breaker in relationships, and stories abound about it. A friend openly told me that he would have bailed out if he were in my shoes. In truth though, I never even seriously thought about leaving, and I would venture to say that there are also countless examples of committed partners who stand by their mate. I’ve met a few, so I know I’m not alone.

You might think that acceptance of your lot in life is part of it, but that to me sounds like quiet desperation. Maybe it does carry you through sometimes, but it takes a lot more than that to endure years of set backs, frustration, and tears. I did ask myself at times “What do I need to learn from this? Why should it be my fate to have to live through this? What did I do to deserve this?” You know, the Job questions.

I flipped the table too, and asked myself how I would feel if I became ill and my wife left me as a result. The answer is “shitty”, of course, but “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is still far easier said than done. That said, I’m one of those who have a conscience that won’t let them get away with stuff, so for me the Golden Rule applies. Besides, Jennifer didn’t ask for this any more than I did, and her suffering has been far worse than mine.

But at the bottom of it, I stayed, quite simply, because it is the only loving thing to do. It takes a good dose of selflessness to stay, and it has tested my patience and my capacity to love countless times. I should add that I can’t judge those who leave, because I can’t say that I would have stayed under all circumstances. Every situation is unique. What made a huge difference and tipped the scale for me is the tenacity and courage that Jennifer has manifested throughout this ordeal.

And in the end, despite all the arguments, tears, and emotional pain, I have absolutely no regrets about staying. It was the right thing to do.  It deepened our relationship, it taught Jennifer about the true nature of love and perhaps helped her realize that she is worthy of the deepest love, and it taught me a great deal about my own humanity.

When I first started the idea of writing about great life experiences, I was not feeling well and figured I’d never feel great again as MS is a terrible disease. I wanted to leave some evidence that I was HERE and I LIVED a life. The best I could hope for was not to get worse and that’s why I started the drug treatment. Little did I know that some of the people and ideas I encountered along the way would provide me with much more hope and some actual healing. I got to the point where I thought I might be one of the lucky ones who figured out how to stop attacks.

Now that I am suffering another brain stem attack so similar in many ways to the one in 2011, I realize I was wrong. Did I do something wrong? Exposure to gluten or dairy? Stress? Surgeries? Exposure to toxins? Re-stenosis of my jugular veins? I was tolerating the drug well but the only things that really made a difference to how I felt were the TVAM/CCSVI procedure in California in February 2014 , and the change in my diet following the example of Dr. Terry Wahls. After the TVAM/CCSVI, my energy improved, my blood pressure and pulse normalized, my hands and feet got warmer. I tolerated heat better and actually began to sweat.  With changes in my diet, I had quite a remarkable two years, ate food and enjoyed so many things in my life again that I thought were long gone, including exercise, swimming, riding my bike and hosting dinner parties with friends! I even had a glass of wine once or twice on very special occasions. Yet these times were interspersed with episodes of recurring trigeminal neuralgia, pain, stress and trips to Winnipeg for surgery.

Last summer, I recall saying to Daniel that it almost felt like the MS was gone. I was doing a lot of fun and interesting things. I felt mentally sharp. My feet felt normal and the feeling was coming back to my face as the rhizotomy healed. The only thing that persisted was a bit of tingling in my hands from the C5-6 spinal stenosis. But it wasn’t getting worse and actually had shown some signs of improvement with the annual MS MRI scans, plus I was seeing my chiropractor regularly and physiotherapist occasionally.

As I may not have time to go through all of the great experiences and scan photos, I’ll list them in the next post.

I have been losing a lot of weight again and it looks like in many ways we’re right back to where I was in late 2011. This time we know what is causing it and I have an official MS diagnosis. When I eat, food sits in my stomach for hours (gastroparesis) and I taste it regularly. I can’t eat enough to sustain my weight and I’m getting weaker each day.

The Vagus Nerve and the Digestive System

Beginning in the brain, the vagus nerve travels down alongside the esophagus to the stomach and other gastrointestinal organs and is primarily responsible for autonomic regulation involved in heart, lung and gastrointestinal function. The vagus nerve controls much of the activity of the stomach, intestine and pancreas and plays a role in food processing, including:

– contractions of the stomach to break food into smaller particles
– release of gastric acid required for food processing
– emptying of the stomach contents into the small intestine
– secretion of digestive pancreatic enzymes that enable absorption of calories
– controlling sensations of hunger, satisfaction and fullness.

I am not interested in tube feeds this time, nor am I interested in experiencing trigeminal neuralgia on the other side of my face. I have decided to let nature take its course without life-saving medical interventions. I have chosen to engage with the local palliative care team. I am seeking comfort and pain relief, if necessary. As the oral route for pain medications is compromised, I will need some help.

Through all of this, Daniel has remained steadfast and loving. He is making me beautiful soups that should be easy to digest but they’re still a challenge for me. At least I am getting some nutrients into my body while we plan next steps.

Last week I found the most interesting and informative blog written by a local young woman with gastroparesis who is keeping herself alive with TPN. She is brave, smart, and a great writer. She expresses much of what I am feeling in some of the posts.

People have been suggesting I consider something like this to buy myself some time . . . spend some time reading it and you may understand why it’s not an option for me . And I ask myself, buy some time . . . for what? More misery? More suffering?

What is also interesting to me is that if any doctors I saw (besides my two friends — radiologist in Portland and pediatrician here in Vancouver) had actually LISTENED to me, we would have arrived at the recognition of the symptoms of gastroparesis and the possibility of MS a lot sooner than we did. This problem happened for a long time in 2011 along with facial pain. And the brain stem lesions in the MRI (two or more in the right pons, large lesion left medulla) fully explain all the symptoms.

Interesting to see that in 2006, an article in PubMed said that upper GI problems are rarely reported in MS. Well, I guess this confirms that I continue to be rare and unusual. Gee, I hope some keen neurology student can learn something from all the stuff I’ve put up here! It will probably take the profession of neurology another 20 years before they even ask questions related to GI problems. I’ve been asked about swallowing a couple of times. And I’ve been asked about constipation a total of once!

In 1998, I was 38 years old, working in a job I enjoyed, and in the process of developing a business. But there was one thing missing and that was somebody to share my life with. A friend in Minneapolis had told me about a book I should read by Harville Hendrix, “Getting the Love You Want.” It helped me think about the significance of a primary relationship and the commitment and honesty required for a successful one.

I decided to take a course called “I’m Ready for a Relationship” at the local community centre. While taking the course, one of the challenges was to get comfortable with rejection as that meant you could move on and focus on other people who might not reject you. And the instructor asked us to write a long list of all the things we were looking for in an ideal mate, shoot for 100% and settle for 90%. Yes, it’s true — nobody is perfect!

My business partner had started corresponding with a man in Germany and it inspired me to try an online matching service. Now bear in mind this was May of 1998, so not many people were doing this. I signed up for one that gave me three weeks for free and sent messages to a few of the men who had similar interests.

One of these men wrote smart and thoughtful emails and during the three weeks of correspondence we moved on to our personal emails and arranged to meet. I learned that he was smart (PhD in Mechanical Engingeering), was an adjunct professor at UBC, was an accomplished researcher who published and had international recognition in his field of mechanical pulping. He had a business trip planned back east and took some vacation while there. And during that time we corresponded a lot. He was well aware of the Harville Hendrix book and was pleased that I mentioned it. So, before we let too much time go by and get lost is the fantasy of perfection, we arranged to meet at a coffee shop right after he returned from his trip.

On June 1, 1998, we met and began the glorious process of falling in love. After we had known each other for a few weeks, I showed him the list of things I was looking for in a mate. He read the loooooong list, handed it back to me, then said, “It sounds like me.” That was what amazed me too. Over the years, I have come to learn that he has many more pluses that I hadn’t even considered — like being a great cook! And an amazing handyman!

The weather that summer was glorious. I can barely remember a rainy day from June through September. And we did so many things that were so much fun.

We swam at the beach. We went to the Vancouver Jazz Festival. We went on a camping trip on Vancouver Island, visited my friends in Courtenay, then went all the way to the tip of Vancouver Island to Cape Scott. We brought back fresh crab to share with a friend of his visiting from Montreal.

That was also the summer we hiked “ Black Tusk “, all in one day. We went with my brother, and it was the hottest day of that summer. We were so hot that we swam in the ice cold glacier fed water of Garibaldi Lake.

We rode our bikes, we enjoyed each others’ company. We went to movies and even met each others’ families. My mom, Maureen, quickly fell in love with him too!

I am forever grateful that I had the experience of falling in love and spending my life with an extraordinary human being.

I love you Daniel.

I have neglected to write the great things in my life, and there are a lot of them. I may just list them in my next post. But for the time being, one of the most important things I did was to go on a search for my biological father. I knew he was from Long Island and born in 1931. I was motivated to attain dual citizenship for financial opportunities while pursuing advanced education in the U.S. And, of course, there was a lot of curiosity and unanswered questions. I knew I had two full sisters that he took with him back to New York when I was an infant in the care of my aunt and uncle, who later adopted me.

My biological father was known here in Vancouver as Jay Fleming, so I did some searching under that name. I knew he had served in the military, but those records led nowhere. I asked my biological mother for as much info as she could give me and she told me that he was born on the 4th of July and lived somewhere near Tarrytown, Long Island. Somewhere in some old family records I found a postcard written to Mr. and Mrs. James Nevins Fleming, and I realized that it might a key piece of information.

Now the internet was not as highly evolved then as it is now, but I did manage to find phone directories online, and found a J.N. Fleming listed in Port Jefferson, a town not far from Tarrytown. So, I sat down to write a letter explaining who I was and what I was looking for. I provided an email address in my letter.

A couple of weeks later, I got an email from my half-sister Dianne. Jim (as he was known there and no longer Jay as he was in Vancouver) had just had a stroke and was returning home from the hospital. And interestingly enough, he had aphasia.

I flew to NY as soon as I could and met my biological father, his second wife and her two sons, plus my half-sister and fraternal twin half-brothers. And the next day I met my full sister, Miriam. (The other full sister, the one who looks more like me, was living in Oklahoma.) I am pleased that I had enough communication skills to get information from Jim in our conversations. And he gave me a copy of his autobiography that he wrote for his Masters thesis when he was in his fifties.

Meeting my father, I realized where I got my hairy eyebrows. And meeting Miriam was truly a wonderful experience as she and I are very much alike in a lot of ways, although she looks more like our biological mother. We hit it off and laughed like little girls.

Over the years, Miriam has come to Vancouver many times. She and my mom, Maureen, hit it off. Biologically, Maureen was our aunt, the youngest sister of our biological mother. And when Maureen was dying in 2010, Miriam came out to see all of us.

The one thing I learned in this reunion was the realization that genetics are a much stronger bond than I had previously thought. After having found my biological family, I understood myself better. I went to Oklahoma to visit the other sister and learned more. She and I resemble each other a lot and even stood the same way with the right hand on the right hip. It was really strange for me to look at her and see myself. However, in temperament, we were quite different, and we have not maintained a relationship.

Miriam came out again when our biological mother was dying in 2013 and was here for her death and funeral. It meant a lot to me to have her support through that time. I had promised Maureen that I would take care of Betty and I was pleased that I could complete that.

September 4, 2013

Dear Dr. X:

I was hoping to be able to find you as I wanted to update you on what has happened since we last met. When I saw that you were a neurology resident, I thought it was even more important that you know the outcome of my story.

I first saw you for my concern about gastrointestinal complaints (severe constipation, reflux) and weight loss at the (hospital A) ER department in October, 2011. Almost three months later, I saw you again after I had been admitted to (hospital B) for more of the same. In addition, you may recall that I had trigeminal neuralgia that my former neurologist called ‘idiopathic’ without having truly investigated the cause of the pain.

You wrote the discharge summary from (hospital B) and you did a good job on it with the information that was in the chart that I have reviewed. You said that I was given the assurance that there was no underlying patholog y. But I am disappointed that you didn’t chart at all about my numb feet . I clearly recall telling you about the numbness.

I had been trying for months to get help as I knew there was something seriously wrong with my body but nobody would really listen to me. Unfortunately, this happens to a lot of people, mostly women. Once the team at (hospital B) decided I was mentally ill with an eating disorder, I knew I wasn’t getting anywhere. I knew that I had not been fully assessed. I did have hope when I saw you again as that’s when my general care did improve – perhaps Dr. F didn’t like me. Although, I imagine it must be difficult for all concerned who had to ‘care’ for me when they must have thought I was just doing all of that to get attention. None of you had any idea how much I had suffered and how much more suffering I was going to have until I got a diagnosis and some help. You will probably never, ever experience that type of pain in your life, even on your deathbed.

After my discharge from (hospital B), I went to see the GP I had been seeing for only a couple of months. He laughed at me and mocked after he received the reports from (hospital B). I quickly found a new GP and things started to turn around after that.

An MRI in May 2012 revealed evidence of demyelination. I had to chase down Dr.(neurologist #3) for the recommended follow-up MRI in July, then I had to bypass him to get myself referred to the MS Clinic. Dr. (neurologist #3) saw me on October 9, 2012, and told me I couldn’t have MS if there were no changes in my muscle strength or reflexes. He was wrong.

It was at UBCH Urgent Care in November 2012 where I was finally was seen by some doctors who decided not to go the psychiatric route (as chosen by hospital B) and admitted me for pain and brought in a neurologist right away. Dr. Silke Cresswell, neurologist, advocated for me to be admitted. I was diagnosed quickly with MS and the brainstem lesions from the MRIs that (neurologist #3) ordered – but never looked at – were consistent with my major physical complaints. (left medulla, right pons)

As I tend to be very sensitive to drugs, I developed an allergy to phenytoin. I was unable to control my pain with pharmaceuticals. I then had to go to Winnipeg for a balloon compression rhizotomy that has taken me out of pain for now.

I am hoping that my case will be of benefit for medical professionals to learn more about MS and its interesting presentations. I have learned that many of us with MS are misdiagnosed with psychiatric conditions before our concerns are taken seriously.

I have outlined my case in great detail on my blog at my website, www.jennifersweeney.ca As I haven’t been able to work in my profession for a while, I converted my professional website into a personal site with my online medical record.

I invite you to look at it and perhaps to share it with some of your colleagues. I should not have been left as long as I was without a brain MRI, especially with the facial pain, as it could have had multiple etiologies, including a brain tumour.

You were nice to me and I appreciated that. I have hope that you will be part of a new generation of neurologists that combine good bedside manner with superior diagnostic skills. Please don’t hesitate to order MRIs, read the reports and insist on looking at the images yourself. It may be time consuming but you may spare somebody the suffering I have been through.

I’ve included a copy of my MRI from March 2013 for you to review. It’s amazing to me that I can have that many lesions, including old (cavitated) ones and dark holes and still be able to go through a physical exam with no observable evidence of MS. In order to get to the diagnosis, a doctor would actually have to listen to me – and look at the MRI.

Thanks,

Jennifer Sweeney, M.Sc.
Vancouver, B.C.

www.jennifersweeney.ca

Daniel came with me to my neurology appointment yesterday. My neuro talked about the challenges of relapses involving the brain stem. They are severe and last longer.

I continue to have problems eating and digesting food. We had a bit of promise earlier this week that looked like perhaps I was getting on top of  it as well as the candida.

Some of my clinical signs have improved, such as reduced nystagmus and INO. But I’ve lost strength in my left hip flexor and the most distressing part for me is the lack of digestive ability. I’ve been here before and been written off as mentally ill before being diagnosed with MS. But I know that it’s my vagus nerve.

I got a new prescription for Nystatin to try to get rid of the candida. But everything I take by mouth is a challenge and I need to find ways to hold on.

My neuro (neurologist #5) says that none of my early lesions were in ‘eloquent’ areas and that meant my presentation of MS was unusual. And it explains why so many medical people, including neurologists, missed it.