Graham Orm
Established Member
Hello folks. I used to attend this forum a lot, but haven't for a couple of years now.
Almost 3 years ago I was fitting kitchens and bathrooms and enjoying making bits and bobs in my well equipped workshop. I bought a brand new Transit and at 58 years old was hoping to work until 70.
Then one day I woke with double vision, the GP sent me to an optician who put it down to tired muscles but no diagnosis why. The night before my return appointment with the GP I was out for a meal and the food kept falling out of my mouth, I had no control.
The next day the GP rushed me to hospital suspecting a stroke. A day of tests proved this not to be the case. A second day of tests diagnose Myasthenia Gravis (MG). It's an autoimmune disease. My immune system thinks that the electronic messages sent from brain to muscle are invaders an stops them getting there. It's rare and more common in women.
I managed to continue working for about 10 months just doing odd jobs and on ever increasing medication. At the 10 month stage I had a major crash and have not recovered. I ended up in resus twice unable to breathe and have spent many weeks on and off in a specialist hospital. My beloved Transit had to be sold and all my gear put in storage. My workshop has been idle ever since.
I have a mobility scooter which was great for 6 months but unfortunately I can no longer use it as I have no strength or breath when I get to where I'm going. I have a stairlift and am at the stage where I get completely breathless just walking across the room. I'm also extremely weak and fatigued all the time.
It's not terminal, but there is no cure. The strong medication (steroids as well as others) will probably do for me in the end, they have so many side effects and do so much damage to various organs. But without them I'm not likely to be able to get out of bed.
The reason I tell you this is that for 2 years I've been hoping for some sort of recovery so that I can at least go in the workshop. It's unlikely now that this will happen so I'll be selling all my gear. I'll be posting various items on here as and when I have the energy to get out there and take photo's.
If you've got this far, thanks for reading, enjoy every minute of every day because you don't know what tomorrow may bring.
Almost 3 years ago I was fitting kitchens and bathrooms and enjoying making bits and bobs in my well equipped workshop. I bought a brand new Transit and at 58 years old was hoping to work until 70.
Then one day I woke with double vision, the GP sent me to an optician who put it down to tired muscles but no diagnosis why. The night before my return appointment with the GP I was out for a meal and the food kept falling out of my mouth, I had no control.
The next day the GP rushed me to hospital suspecting a stroke. A day of tests proved this not to be the case. A second day of tests diagnose Myasthenia Gravis (MG). It's an autoimmune disease. My immune system thinks that the electronic messages sent from brain to muscle are invaders an stops them getting there. It's rare and more common in women.
I managed to continue working for about 10 months just doing odd jobs and on ever increasing medication. At the 10 month stage I had a major crash and have not recovered. I ended up in resus twice unable to breathe and have spent many weeks on and off in a specialist hospital. My beloved Transit had to be sold and all my gear put in storage. My workshop has been idle ever since.
I have a mobility scooter which was great for 6 months but unfortunately I can no longer use it as I have no strength or breath when I get to where I'm going. I have a stairlift and am at the stage where I get completely breathless just walking across the room. I'm also extremely weak and fatigued all the time.
It's not terminal, but there is no cure. The strong medication (steroids as well as others) will probably do for me in the end, they have so many side effects and do so much damage to various organs. But without them I'm not likely to be able to get out of bed.
The reason I tell you this is that for 2 years I've been hoping for some sort of recovery so that I can at least go in the workshop. It's unlikely now that this will happen so I'll be selling all my gear. I'll be posting various items on here as and when I have the energy to get out there and take photo's.
If you've got this far, thanks for reading, enjoy every minute of every day because you don't know what tomorrow may bring.
