Winter

As soon as it got little cold, every week, we started to go with special caution to the steam bath. Seraphim likes warmth very much, and so do I; and he liked to go into the steam room for a couple of minutes. I simply did it because I loved to lie down full length on the shelves and enjoy hot air. Sasha asked all the time how I felt and whether it was hard for me to tolerate high temperature. I argued that in the steam bath it was easier for me to relax and I felt great. I especially liked to alternate hot steam and cold water in the pool.

In December, one inconvenience began to bother me: all the joints in my body were aching although it was relatively tolerant. In addition, there were clicks when I made any move, and it became hard to do the household chores. Even wringing out a kitchen cloth did not seem possible.

The first place where I looked for information of course was the Internet. I knew that the pain is directly related to the injection of glucocorticosteroids. I was very disappointed by the fact that, despite recently diagnosed MS, even after such a short time, I feel negative side effects of the treatment.

At the same time, on the Internet, many people wrote that these pains occur spontaneously and disappear the same way, the only thing worth doing is taking a medicine containing calcium. Again, without visiting a clinic, I began to restore reserves of calcium in my body.

To relief my running the household, we decided to buy a mop with a mechanical wringer: it helped me cope with the new inconvenience. Without ceasing to be engaged in household chores, I was patiently waiting for the pain to ease.

I did not have to wait long: the pain in joints slowly began to ease, and about two months later, completely disappeared.

In February, I really wanted to join a fitness club and attend yoga classes. I immediately appreciated the strengths I gained and immediately after an hour of yoga, went to dynamic power aerobics. I enjoyed going in for sport at such a pace — for two hours, three times a week.

Almost all winter, it was frosty — minus twenty degrees Celsius. We almost did not walk in the open air, and spent most of the time at home. And as we like warmth, it was always hot in the house. Most likely, this was the cause of more frequent colds. Once Seraphim caught cold due to an open window, I began to feel scratchy throat. An antiviral immune-stimulating medicine for treatment of influenza and antiviral candles helped me to recover. Moreover, we did not take preventive medications.

During influenza, our boy was cutting his second lower molar teeth and stomatitis followed quickly. Pediatricians’ tips did not help us and despite all my efforts, our baby could not eat and drink his favorite stewed fruit for almost a week. In a week’s interval, I also had stomatitis. I was worried about my son, knowing that all my manipulations were in vain. Again I resorted to the help of the Internet and was able to find one right way to treat a viral disease, which helped us quickly.

I was worried about Seraphim. But Sasha was not less worried about me too.

Going outside of our house, he said:
«If you and Seraphim get ill so often, it is possible that you will have a new exacerbation of MS».

But exactly at that moment some kind of strong instinct told me that I will never have exacerbations. I shared this with Vova:
«No more exacerbations!»

Unlike Seraphim and I my beloved man went frequently on business and in any case he breathed fresh air more often; for this reason he suffered flu only once during the winter.

Despite frequent colds, flu and stomatitis, as well as worries about our son, I managed to avoid MS exacerbations.