I wouldn’t let MS “beat” me. I was pro-active: walks got longer, fr half-an-hour each morning to well over an hour. Dr. Guru seemed mildly amused by my efforts at exercise. But during one of my appointments, he said a study by French researchers indicated exercise helps to fight MS. 1/8

Over several years I went from walking about half-an-hour each morning to over an hour. The Indianapolis 500 Festival has a half-marathon called The Mini Marathon, at the beginning of each May. A lot of people use that as a personal goal. In 1999 I did the Mini, 13.1 miles. 2/8

The last mile has people on both sides of the course, cheering on friends, loved ones or complete strangers. I began to cry. I remembered not being able to walk, then using crutches. Here I was at the end of 13.1 miles in under three hours. Each year I added another medal to my collection. 3/8

On the medical front Dr. Guru seemed always to want me to participate in a “blind study” People on his staff knew vials of blood were mine and what my ID number for a particular study might be. I’m pretty sure I was in four such studies, but Dr. Guru wanted me to continue steroids. 4/8

Race walking left me gasping for air a bit, so I quit smoking cigarettes. I was tired of pain from the shots & finally said “no” to any more & that included interferon. Betw exercise & no more steroids, I began to lose weight. I switched neurologists. MS apptmts are roughly the same: 5/8

Shoes & socks off for the neuro to rub a mallet handle on the soles of the feet to test sensation. Then come components of field sobriety tests cops give during traffic stops, except cars aren’t whipping by & you don’t go to jail if you flunk horizontal gaze nystagmus or heel-to-toe. 6/8

This neuro said (painful) intramuscular injections had been (far less painfully) in belly fat for years. She didn’t know why I’d been taking steroids. Cpl of mos later she moved. I was referred to another neuro. BTW: these tweets R from my blog www dot civildiscoursenow dot com. 7/8

I’m Mark Small, pro-civil rts GOP candidate City-County Council Distr 2. MS may not relate to a campaign issue, but my opponent is part of the christo-fascist move to run our lives via the GOP. I figured I’d write about life’s challenges. I approve of this message. Hell, I wrote it. 8/8