I put this blog together to immediately abandon it.

I have payed for it faithfully not quite wanting to pull the plug.

COVID hit. And so much changed I could not process it.

I woke up one day and all the feeling was gone in my right hand.

I didn’t go to the hospital bc it was May 2020.

Slowly it got better. Apparently I wasn’t dying.

I complained about having problems knitting. I thought it was carpal tunnel.

Holding a pick was hard sometimes, but it was erratic.

My piano playing (right hand ) fell apart. Years of study gone in a few months.

I did the tests. X-rays, EMG, nothing.

Finally, MRI.

Off the the neurologist (a very frightening place for a youngish women, confronted with the worst ravages of aging)

At some level I expected it. The MRI showed it. Everything else was just to confirm it.

I have MS.

This is a pretty shattering diagnosis for a musician, especially when one of your hands is effected. Even for an amateur like me.

I have worked hard to regain my picking. It is there, but there is a limit on my speed.

Piano is a wreck. I get a headache when a play.

Writing is similar.

I struggle with walking distances. Fine for normal stuff.

Most days are good. Some days are not.

“My life goes on in endless song, above earth’s lamentations. I hear the real, though far off song………..How can I keep from singing?…….”