MGA News Spring 2001

I have just had the father and mother of head colds. It was my first bad infection since 1994, when a virus stimulated my MG and sent me into a myasthenic crisis, just in time for Christmas. “You’ve been lucky”, I hear you say, well, yes and no. Although I have been lucky, to some extent, this has also been the result of careful planning.

To start with, everyone in the Village knows that you don’t go and see `poor old’ Gravis if you have the slightest suspicion of a cough, cold, the flu, or any other infection. As one dear old couple have told a mutual friend, “you see, it upsets his missing grabitts”.

I soon came to recognise that in winter our Village hall is, amongst other things, a local branch of `Bugs-You- Like`. You name it and someone has it and will pass it on to you. I suppose its because the Hall is warm and humid and a perfect environment for spreading infection. This means that in winter I stay at home in front of the fire. Mind you, Mrs Gravis says that if I can’t go to meetings, I cant get mixed up in village politics.

In the summer, when the sun shines and the windows are open, things are different. With the aid of my trusty wheel chair, I can go to garden parties and on outings with the Garden Club. The sun and fresh air seem to act as a buffer against infection.

Visits to supermarkets seem reasonably safe. I chose ones with wide isles and high ceilings. The ventilation systems all seem to draw the air up and away from shoppers, taking the bugs with it. Its also amazing how many friends I seem to meet there.

I use Lavender and Tea Tree aromatherapy oils to provide a vapour screen. The Aromatherapist recommended a couple of drops of each on a tissue tucked under my collar and this seems to do the trick. My brother says I smell like our Great Grandmother used to, but I tell him I can think of worse things and tell him that at least it’s not garlic.h

I do go to my GP’s surgery, but don’t sit in the waiting room. As the doctor said, “there are too many sick people (who) get in there”. I wait in the car while Mrs Gravis sits in the waiting room and fetches me when I am called. I am also lucky that my GP tries to arrange appointments for the very beginning of an early surgery, or the end of a late one.

What of the cold? Well after four weeks it has gone. The MG has been stimulated and is affecting my mouth and throat, my speech becomes slurred when I am tired and if I were as drunk as I sound, I should have had a jolly good time. Instead of waiting to see what would happen, as I did in 1994, I obeyed one of the first rules of managing MG, that when something is not right, get straight on to your GP before it gets worse. Both the consultant who looks after me and my doctor, insist that they would rather see me for something trivial than risk my condition getting out of control again. After talking with the consultant, the doctor increased my steroid dose and I am assured that in a few weeks time all should be back to what is normal for me.

MGA NEWS Spring 2001

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