What Happened...

In 2003-4 I was employed as a professional "presentation-preparer" for a Big-6 consulting company.

For reasons only truly known to the actors-involved at the time, I was summarily released from employment (OK THIS PARTICULAR JOB WAS PART-TIME-TEMPORARY EMPLOYMENT, SO NO BLAME ON THIS COMPANY) and in the coincident economic-downturn concurrent with the U.S./Coalition removal of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq, I was forced to take employment as a painter's-assistant (a somewhat physically-demanding [demanding enough to require 2 good hands] occupation).

At first I just thought I had a flu...because I was really nauseous and vomiting EVERY HOUR OR SO, meaning that after several days I was REALLY hurting.

So I WALKED 2 MILES IN A DOWNPOUR to a local physician's office...Dr. Lerner [Dr CITRON, I remembered, after publishing this post] I think is his name) and the very intelligent doctor concluded after a significant interview that I MIGHT HAVE a kind of VIRAL INFECTION that infects WHITE-MATTER in the brain and SPINE.

After a night of incessant vomiting, my friends had me admitted to the emergency room of a local hospital. After ruling out various "standard" infections via blood tests, the emergency doctors admitted me to the hospital-proper.

After several days in the hospital, Dr. Lerner(?) [Dr. CITRON, as recently noted] came to visit me, and based on an MRI, and subsequent spinal-tap reformed by a Dr. Khalsa, it was agreed that there was sufficient evidence that I was suffering from ADEM (a generally monophasic [single-event] auto-immune disease triggered by an as-yet undiscovered agent).

As it happened, my Mother and Step-Dad were the only family in any proximate position to help me recover after I was released from a week-long stay at the hospital, so I went to stay with them.

After a marked downhill trend in my AS-YET-UNSEEN recovery (I was still vomiting to the edge of malnutrition), they took me to THEIR LOCAL HOSPITAL.

After the usual anti-nausea medicines failed to produce any results, it was decided that I should be taken to another local hospital where a bona-fide neurologist (Dr. Mark Agius [pronounced like au jus, the dipping sauce commonly used with a kind of roast-beef sandwich]) could examine me.

After a week's additional hospitalization, new MRI's and various tests by the Neurology staff there it was determined that I was NOT a critical-care case, and was sent back home (not any form of discriminative treatment, BTW...just a needed form of triage for a hospital jammed-full of patients).

ANYWAY after all that, it was initially determined that I -might have- Multiple Sclerosis (it's REALLY hard to make that distinction so early in the disease's various visible manifestations [called presentation in physician-speak]).

Anyway, that's what happened to me before more long-term observation and tests told the neurologists that it MUST be Multiple Sclerosis, not Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis (ADEM)

At this point 3-4 years later, I'm just trying to live on my own Social Security Disability day-by-day. So that's what happened to me.