We made it through the holidays with a smile. I may have been a little premature. I was not feeling very festive throughout the holidays. I was sure Covid would have run its course by then. Obviously, I was being wishful. Or is it wistful?
January brought the heat of a vaccine. We are ready for things to start heading in the right direction. After the initial frustration and anger. I have now turned the corner. I was angry because we had been told for so many months, how people with a disease causing immune system compromise, such as my MS, would be among the first to receive the vaccine. I am not trying to jump the line, as all who got it before me needed it. I just thought I would be a part of the group. I was not. I was put in line behind the essentials, nursing home occupants and elderly. My number wasn’t called until March in Florida.
I have now been vaccinated, along with the wife. We have been relieving our son of his grandsons on weekends when possible, throughout the Pandemic. My old coworker who has relocated to Florida also, dropped by. So the candle has been lit and we have once again, put it in the window. My psychologist and physical therapists have noted my easy outlook returning. Now that it has, they are comfortable letting me know how concerned they had become.
APR
2021
About the Author:
A little about myself: I was born Carl Levon Jones in Conway hospital in 1959 to Hazel Elizabeth Jones. I am the third of four children. My mother never married. This today would be normal but in the old days, it was different. Maybe it was the beginning of the change in view. I was raised by my grandparents from the age of 1 when we moved to Maryland. My mother was still a big part of my life, as she and a few sisters had moved to New York to try to make a living instead of the depressed south. I lived and grew up with my grandparents, brother and sister and cousins until I entered the military at 19 years of age. I spent 12 years in the Army learning to be an electronics technician, just to have computers take over the industry. I, therefore, had to relearn electronics with computers being the main focus. No, I am not talking Windows and Microsoft, but Fortran and different flavors of UNIX creating GUIs. I rose through the IT Field from the bottom, to be a Manager at different DOD Contractors. I was married to my wife, Patt in 1981. We have been together ever since, 38yrs. We had one son, Carl Levon Jones II the following year while still serving in the military. I am a man who believes strongly in family and relatives. I am as close to Patt’s family as I am to my own. Closer in some cases. Unfortunately, my rise in IT was interrupted when I contracted the Autoimmune Disease, Multiple Sclerosis in 2012, diagnosed in 2013. I had to leave work in late 2014. I have been dealing with the nerve damage(Neurological) the disease caused. I went to Clinica Ruiz in Puebla, Mexico for a procedure called Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT). It is not offered for my type of MS PPMS in the United States. A battle we have been fighting for some time now. This Blog is about my; MS Journey, my thoughts (Poetry) throughout the years, my experiences and my friends and family (Photo Gallery). Hopefully, this Blog will help at least one person in their decision to conquer the MS Beast, and help to get this procedure available in the United States and covered by the Insurance we pay so much for.