In an Instant…
In an instant, my life changed from what I thought it would be. I was blissfully moving through life as a lawyer, a wife, and a new mom, thinking that I had control over what my life would look like going forward. Then, everything changed.
I woke up on the morning of April 20, 2021, with slightly blurry vision in my left eye. It was mildly annoying, and mildly concerning, but I didn’t yet have any comprehension of what it meant. I called and booked an appointment with an optometrist for that evening, and then went about my day. That evening, the optometrist found nothing wrong with my eye but told me that he would refer me to someone who could perform a more fulsome scan of my eye. He advised that this would likely occur a few months later. He gave me no reason to think that there was any urgency to the situation. When I asked, “so what do I do in the meantime, just live with blurry vision?”, he responded with “I guess so”.
The next morning, I woke up with even more blurry vision. I called and booked an appointment with my family doctor for the following week. As my vision progressively declined throughout the course of the day, I debated in my head whether or not to go to the hospital. The rapid decline in my vision was alarming; but on the other hand, we were in the midst of a global pandemic, and the Emergency Room was just about the last place that I wanted to expose myself to in my unvaccinated state.
At the end of my workday, I decided to phone a friend. She holds a Doctor of Medicine degree. She told me in no uncertain terms that she wanted me to go to the hospital, so I did. We called my mother-in-law to come and help with childcare so that I could go to the hospital. At the hospital, a nurse performed an eye examination. It was then that I realized just how bad my vision had gotten. I couldn’t even see the eye chart with my left eye. I broke down sobbing when I realized how much my vision loss had progressed in just 24 hours. I was referred to an ophthalmologist the following day.
The ophthalmologist examined my eyes and made an urgent referral to a neuro-ophthalmologist. I went to St. Michael’s hospital in Toronto fearing a brain tumour. I was relieved when the neuro-ophthalmologist diagnosed optic neuritis. I had never heard of it, but it sounded better than “brain tumour”. I left with a prescription for a massive dose of prednisone, a referral to the MRI department, and hope that my vision would return to normal.
My neuro-ophthalmologist advised that optic neuritis can be caused by Multiple Sclerosis, so he advised me to increase my daily supplementation of Vitamin D. I went home and started doing research. “Dr. Google” filled me in that my risk of having MS was around 50% following a bout of optic neuritis.
My MRI confirmed the presence of multiple brain lesions. That risk of having MS jumped above 70%, per “Dr. Google”. At my follow-up appointment with my neuro-ophthalmologist, I was referred to the MS Clinic at St. Michael’s hospital.
The massive dose of prednisone relieved my optic neuritis, and I started to get my vision back. However, after some initial progress, it stalled out and my vision has remained cloudy or foggy.
On July 6, 2021, I completed my intake with the MS Clinic. I was diagnosed with Clinically Isolated Syndrome (read: it sure looks like MS, but there’s not enough for a diagnosis). My neurologist scheduled a lumbar puncture in the hopes that he could confirm my MS diagnosis. That lumbar puncture came back positive, confirming my diagnosis of MS.
I didn’t imagine for a second when I woke up with blurry vision on the morning of April 20, 2021, that I was experiencing the opening salvo of MS. In an instant, my life is forever changed.
