People's Reactions

it's always interesting to me to see people's reactions to their learning that i have MS.  sooooooo many people ask me what's wrong regardless of where i am when they see me walking with the cane.  i've mentioned before that the usual question is "what happened to your foot?" and my standard answer is, "nothing happened to my foot, i have Multiple Sclerosis"  i've stopped saying MS because i don't know just how many people know what MS is.

• right off the bat however, i can tell whether or not the person even knows what " Multiple Sclerosis" is - they just kinda nod their heads and keep it moving.  no reaction (not that i need one), no additional comments, nothing.  it almost looks like they were embarrassed that they asked.  
• then there are those who say things like, "oh i'm so sorry to hear that" and we may engage in some small talk about "life throwing u curveballs and u jes hadda deal"

• lol...there was this old man 1 time, after i told him what was wrong, he said something that to this day i have no idea what it was.  i'm not convinced that even  he knew because he kind had the "deer in the headlights" look as he was saying it...but then he said, "well at least you're out and about here doing your thing" and i smiled and said, "i sure am".

now and again i might wonder if i'm giving them too much information by telling the truth, but the way i figure is that you should be prepared for anything if yuh fas enuf to ask the question.  if u can't handle the truth, you shouldn't ask any questions.  and then there was this guy...

Me: i have multiple sclerosis

Him: oh...now is that the one that progresses and there isn't any cure?

Me: yup.  it sure is

Him: and it lives in ur spine?

Me: well it affects the Central Nervous System so it could attack ur spine so it could affect your mobility 

Him: so what happened?

Me: i gave him a shortened version of my eyebrow twitching etc

Him: oh...and when did it happen?

i was actually in a nail salon and he was working so i never got a chance to respond because someone else had entered and he had to go do his job but, i was cracking up inside because i had NEVER encountered anything like this.  i had no problem sharing, i'll talk about it to anyone who wants to listen but it was just so funny to me how he kept going on and on and on...i think we'd still be talking if that chick didn't enter.  lol