MS

Soooooo I've been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.  The irony is deafening.  I made such an idol out of sports and exercise but now I have an autoimmune disease that will inevitably leave me disabled someday.  It is just another pride lesson.  Fitness is not that important; well at least as important as I made it.   But now I will use my experience and knowledge to combat and delay the effects and symptoms. 
Somewhere in the middle of January, I woke up to a very strange feeling in my left arm.  The whole thing was numb and tingly, all the way up to my spine and up my neck.  I had lost some feeling in my finger tips and my trapezius, a large shoulder blade muscle, was completely dead.  It would not engage/fire whatsoever.  That bothered me but I was stubborn.  I didn'ttttt need no docccccccc.  Right.  I finally went a couple days later and this guy said it was a pinched nerve.  Ok sweet.  They gave me a steroid shot and some pills.  This definitely helped reduce the inflammation of the nerve endings, which moderately relieved the symptoms.  But more time passed and it still wasn't getting completely better, so I went back.  They took my co-pay and five minutes later told me I need an MRI.  They kept asking me what my pain was on a scale of 1-10.  I was like, 'zero, maybe a one.'  It was uncomfortable, but it didn't hurt.   Being stubborn again, I did not want to pay for it.  I finally got an MRI and not 30 minutes after they called me to tell me the bad news. 
In the meantime I started going to a chiropractor I know from church and he has done wonders.  The MS I have comes in waves, so I'm currently still recovering from that relapse.  Before I went and saw him, I couldn't even really play basketball.  My coordination was shot in my left arm, which meant I couldn't dribble or catch a pass.  What bothered me even more was when I did a simple test that I used to do on clients.  You stand on one foot, stick your arms out, close your eyes and try to touch your nose with both middle fingers.  I did that test and with my left arm I touched my chin, instead of my nose.  Having my back worked on a couple times a week has had unbelievable results.  I'm certainly not back to what I was on the court, but I'm a lot closer.  Before I couldn't even touch the rim and now I can grab it with both hands.  And I can catch the ball again.
There is no cure for MS and no one knows what causes it.  It is more prevalent in females but it usually shows the first signs between 20-40 years old.  The drugs are pretty powerful.  And expensive.  I'm supposed to begin treatment soon.  Some of the pills you take and they last for months.  Others require you to stick yourself every other day.  I'm not worried.  Bring it to me.  I'm about to play the cards I've been dealt with a smile on my face.  There is no sense crying and whining about things you can't change. God has a plan.  Romans 8:28 says,"²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[a] have been called according to his purpose."  That's all I need to know.
It has been interesting to me the response I have gotten.  The people around me are definitely more concerned than I am.  My attitude is kind of like, 'ahhh whatevs.'  I love the people in my life and greatly appreciate their support, but I'll walk away from someone super concerned I just told and be like, 'yeesh, I'm not dead.'  Unless you knew me really well or watched me hoop, you wouldn't even be able to tell.  My neurologist gave me a bunch of packets of different drugs I could take.  If there is one thing I hate, it's anything that would fall under the category of paperwork.  I don't want to look at that junk, reading through all the side effects and such.  Just tell me what I gotta do and I'll do it. If she wants to know what I feel like I should do, I'll be like, 'you're the doc.  You tell me.' 
The only thing I'm apprehensive about is my commitments later this year.  I would like to show up able to do the things I said I could physically do, as well as the person my references made me out to be.  I do not want to have a relapse in the midst of a tour or disaster relief. But like I said, I'm not worried.  I mean by rights, I am fallen, I am a sinner and I completely and fully deserve God's wrath. It's only by the grace of God I'm even alive, let alone fortunate enough to function as well as I do.  And heck, it's about time something bad happened to me.  I'm soooo blessed.  I've had every need my whole life taken care of, I have two college degrees, a wonderful family, awesome friends, my parents aren't divorced, decently fit, I can see, I don't go to bed starving, etc.  Life was just too easy. I'm not arrogantly saying I want bad things to happen to me because I was too awesome before.  I'm saying I have been fortunate enough to never have been through rough trials.  I feel like that has made me soft.  I can't wait for all the lessons I'm going to learn and how I will grow through this ordeal. 

"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself."
Eleanor Roosevelt