This Week in my Life: Week 28 of 2016

My rather glum feelings and perspective on the state of the world from last week's post definitely hasn't improved, with the horrifying situations in Nice and Turkey. 

In last week's post, I also promised that the start of my new "My MS Symptoms: Top 10 Greatest Hits" series would be happening sometime during this last week. If you've been looking for that post, surprise - it's not there! I'm going to go ahead and blame MS fatigue and a somewhat busy (by my standards, anyway) week. Hopefully, I'll get two posts up in the series this week, but you'll for sure get at least one before the next TWIML post.

The view from here:

Raindrops on a spiderweb. From a distance, the sunlight really made the drops
shimmer brilliantly, prompting me to go investigate what it was.
It was prettier than I managed to capture in this picture.

It was origami butterfly week in the Instagram #nanogami challenge.
This guy measures 8 mm across.

When I get stuck or somehow screw up an origami fold I'm just learning, I will often unfold to try again.
The resulting crease designs on an unfolded design are often mesmerizing to me.

I read the latest issue of Momentum at the neuro's office.
Apparently DIMINISHED SENSE OF TASTE can be an MS symptom?! That's just great.
The article suggests practicing tasting (beyond just regular eating, but specifically making sure to engage
sweet, sour, bitter, salty flavors) and sniffing on the regular, to keep those neural pathways robust. 

Apparently this infusion center has private rooms!!! SUCH A BETTER EXPERIENCE than the
usual 6 patients and their guests in a VERY SMALL & CRAMPED, awkwardly shaped room.
This is the infusion experience I'm used to from the years of Tysabri at other locations. I also had the
best nurse yet this time. I hope to get a private room again, but I'm not counting on it.

Thai Iced Tea at my post-Tysabri treat meal. Love the straw wrapper roses they always do.

Flowers at the library. 

Pretty flower (or is it a weed? it's gotta be a flower, right?) growing in my driveway.

My basil is coming along nicely.

My cilantro is doing okay, too. I've already eaten quite a bit of it.
My fave herb, though basil is a close 2nd.

What I made this week:

Some tigers.

Grilled jalapeno boats with goat cheese + cheddar. Tasty.

The makings of some mighty tasty grilled sweet potato wedges.
Cilantro, lime zest, lime juice sweet potatoes.
Not pictured: acocado oil, salt, and a little bit of garlic pepper.

MS  stuff on the web I read/saw this week:

Diagnosed With Multiple Sclerosis, An Artist Turns Her MRIs Into Art

First it took my body, then it took my mind

I hadn't visited Richard Cohen's blog for a while. This post was interesting. I knew Michele Obama's dad had MS, but I hadn't realized or noticed that her voice has been totally absent as an advocate for MS and MS funding since we heard about her connection to MS before she was officially First Lady. Cohen writes:

The new First Lady described how she watched her Dad, “grab his walker, prop himself against the sink and slowly shave and button his uniform.” When he came home, he would reach down to lift one leg after another to make it up the stairs and greet his kids. I did not hear about the man again.

I had wondered if Mrs. Obama would assume a leadership role in the effort to win more funding for MS research. I realize that the endless array of diseases seeks better funding, too. The Federal Government cannot show favoritism. I get it. President Obama will leave office soon enough. So what happens then?

He goes on to talk about how much Ann and Mitt Romney have done for MS and wonders if the Obamas will do more once they leave the White House. He also floats the idea of an Obama/Romney partnership to this end, and references a charitable partnership between Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush as an across-party-lines precedent. Such a partnership between two strong, influential women for the MS cause would be pretty great. Some of the commenters on Richard's post talk about writing letters (and/or starting a hashtag on social media) to let the women know of this great idea they should pursue. I'm in. Even if the partnership doesn't happen, I very much hope the Obamas take on the MS cause with their considerable platform, post January.