It’s amazing to see how much the Appalachian Trail has benefited my dear husband. Not only is his state of mind greatly improved, but his physical status as well. We expected the challenges of the trail to cause more flare ups of his Multiple Sclerosis not less. This is a wonderful surprise.
Before taking this journey my husband would have frequent symptoms from MS. He would get “bear hugs” the most often, which is a terrible painful sensation of a hug around his chest with a sharp digging sensation on the spine. It breaks my heart to see the look on his face when he has these moments. I notice these times from his facial expressions when often others around him can’t see it. Then in and around these moments he would get the “MS fatigue,” that would make it very difficult to get up off the couch some days, and numbness on his arms. He usually shakes out his arms when this happens, because of the tingling sensation it would cause. His eye sight has been effected and had caused optic neuritis in his left eye which will worsen when he’s over heated. Then he has moments where his cognitive function is impaired. He might forget what we’re talking about or lose track of what’s happening, but those moments fade quickly so far. He usually asks to push a cart when we go to the grocery store just so he has something to lean on. Balance can be a challenge at times so having a cart in a store or running his knuckles along the wall when he walks helps to guide him when he’s being challenged by this symptom.
Of all of these symptoms which come and go, I’m elated to see that on the trail his only symptom has been the “drop foot” or “floppy foot” as we usually call it. For about 5-30 minutes of most of the days we have been hiking he’s had this symptom and it has not effected his ability to go on hiking. His lower leg and foot, below the knee, will go numb and I can usually hear the flop of his foot as he walks.
It’s really amazing how well he’s doing. He’s wanted to take on the Appalachian Trail for some time now and having the chance to do so is really wonderful to watch. He’s a new man. Empowered by his achievements he’s unstoppable.
Unfortunately though, we’ve been under some difficulties with my worsening ankle on the trail. After hiking on with this pain for 3 days and it getting worse not better, we have to make a difficult decision. To take a temporary “pause” to go see the doctor and give it a chance to heal is the best thing to do at this time. It breaks my heart to have to do so. To ask this wonderful man to put his dreams on hold is more than I ever wanted to do. This is only just a “pause” though. We will be back on the trail in no more than a week.
We booked a rental car to get home and scheduled an appointment with my Doctor.
Why go back to NH? There are doctors in NC, right?
Well, yes. Actually, we were just across from a medical center when we pulled off the trail. We could have gone there and taken a week off the trail in Franklin, NC, but then we would have spent a lot of money for a hotel and food and we would not be sure about being able to make it to or rescheduling Ben’s infusion at the hospital in Clyde, NC. There was also the factor of terrain once we restarted the trail that could be problematic. We would be looking at 4-5 days with 6,000 ft peaks ahead of us. All these variables caused us to take the safest approach and flip on the trail earlier than expected.
People do the trail in many ways. Some go from north to south, SOBO, and south to north, NOBO, and some flip flop as we were planning to do anyways. We’re just going to have more flip flopping ahead of us is all. But, as many t-shirts say, “hike your own hike.” And that’s just what we’re going to do.
After making so many great connections with what was fast becoming our hiker family though, we had to stay and say goodbye to them for now. We hope to see them on the trail as they cross our paths in the north.
So, up I put me feet and relax with great company on our last night in NC.
This town was beautiful, nestled into the mountains all around. We will return and we will conquer these mountains as we cheer on the ones who move on from here. We will see you again. Our story will go on.
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My MS vs The AT 