"Kind manner and good humour"

In June I had the worst relapse out of the 20 years that I have been living with MS. My symptoms included significant brain fog, extreme fatigue, balance issues, numbness & pins and needles in my right hand/arm and right foot/leg, weakness in my left ankle, urinary hesitancy, word finding issues and poor memory. This resulted in me spending the first 3 months in bed unable to do anything apart from go to the bathroom myself most of the time. This was devastating and frustrating as I had lost my independence and had to rely on my husband and family to help me with basic functions.

Whilst working with the MS team I was referred to neuro Physio and had my initial visit in October seeing Louise, who also referred me to Lois neuro OT who I started seeing in November. Between Lois & Louise we came up with realistic & achievable goals and I worked hard on my homework from both of them.

With Louise i worked on my balance, my mobility, my fatigue and also worked on my back pain. I progressed from furniture walking in the house to walking holding on to someone, I then got my walking stick and was able to walk short distances, it was so rewarding to be able to walk outside the house again. She then referred me to Orthotics and now I have now got my fancy new splint for my left ankle which means I can now walk for over an hour at a time without rest. I am so thankful for all Louise's input and support in getting me back on my feet again.

With Lois we did cognitive tests to see how my brain was functioning and fatigue scores and weekly diaries to see what level my fatigue is. We came up with plans on how to help with my sleep and also on how to slowly integrate small activities back into my life and discussed ways to tackle things to make me more independent.

I have slowly improved over the last 9 months and have been attending sessions over the last 6 months with both Lois and Loiuse. I can not sing their praises enough. They have made a very difficult time for me bearable by encouraging and supporting me throughout. They have made therapy appointments a thing to look forward to with their kind manner and good humour. They always explained things in a way I could understand and were patient with me on days when my brain was not working so well.

They are a credit to the MS team and I am so thankful to both of them for their support and now that I am well enough to be discharged they have both offered an open appointment so I am reassured that should I need any input or have any queries in the future I can contact them, which is massively reassuring to know that I am not left alone.