Alan, and all: Well, I am now rested up from the trip to Baltimore, and it was more than FABULOUS--it was STUPENDOUS! For those of you who don't know, there are two tracks: a scientific track for the doctors and scientists, and a clinical track for the rest of us--simultaneously going on.
Chitra Krishnan organized the symposium--and what a job she did! She is Dr. Kerr's Research Assistant. The subject matter was organized from the simple to the complex: Anatomy and neural function--normal function, then presentation of the various "cousin" diseases/syndromes; their symptoms and how they are diagnosed; how they are similar and different; presentations on various symptoms/residuals, like bowel and bladder, gait and pain; then treatment elements, including physical therapy, drug therapy, devices which improve functioning, and culminating in the climax piece: Dr. Kerr and his stem cell research! It will all be available on CD. We even got to see Jim Lubin on a web-cam type of connection, in real time! So glad to see you, Jim. The last event was a question-and-answer session with Dr. Kerr, Dr. Greenburg, Dr. Kaplin, and some others. And Nancy Davis was there--she was diagnosed with MS some time ago, and has written a book "Lean on Me", which she generously provided everyone a complimentary copy of! It is about how to organize and manage your own health care, especially if you have a life threatening, life changing diagnosis. For those of you who think you can't afford this trip, I hope you realize that they provided continental breakfast, buffet lunches and snacks daily, plus one evening banquet, and two wine and cheese evening events, so suppers were the only meal you needed to buy on a couple of the evenings. And they kept us busy 9am to 7pm or later most days! It was really hard to miss some of the sessions to go get a little rest! The symposium cost is very reasonable for patients and caregivers, and the hotel had a conference rate that made it affordable. The doctors were great at intermingling and answering questions, including Dr. Kerr, and his staff. I am on the internet researching how B-12 deficiency usually presents, if it does so in predictable ways, and exactly how and what the damage is in this "Classic Case" that I have. Dr. Kaplin and Dr. Kerr pretty much said that my demyelinating injury due to B-12 deficiency was not an inflammatory one. One thing I learned was that B-12 deficiency can take months, even years to develop symptoms, and that usually, cognition, depression, fatigue, and other like brain functions are affected first. It makes me look back to the year or so before I came down with the sudden physical symptoms and try to remember: I do know There was fatigue, and I was "burning out" some. Probably it was the early symptoms. I also found out that bleeding gums can be caused by B-12 deficiency. Sorry to be so windy: I'll have more to say, I'm sure. Cora
