Umbrella

Throw it all in the air
Throw it all at a wall
The various symptoms
Come raining down
Umbrella Umbrella
You are too small
Umbrella Umbrella
Will you break the fall

Sometimes I feel like I need a bigger umbrella. Or a stronger umbrella. I basically grew up on golf courses in Alabama. I love golf umbrellas. They are big and strong. They protect the players and the clubs from the elements. The thing I’m learning about MS is that some days it seems like I wake up, take all the symptoms, throw them up in the air, and see what comes raining down. Some days I get hit on the head with fatigue. Other days it may be pain. It’s about as random as summer thunderstorms in the South. In the South, you learn to keep an umbrella with you May-August. You probably only need it a few hours a day a few days a week. I keep a small one on me. It’s good for the small short showers like a not too bad MS day where OTC meds work. Other days I need the golf umbrella when a tropical storm is passing through. It works but to be safe you may want your rain jacket also. Those are the MS days when you go from OTC to Rx meds.
Then hurricane days. There is no umbrella to help you out there. Not even a rain jacket. We have hurricane parties down South. You stay at home, don’t leave the house, have a cocktail with your friends while watching Jim Cantore, and pray the oak tree in your back yard doesn’t come crashing down. Those are really bad MS days where you just can’t make it out of bed or make it only to the sofa except not as fun. On those days I think: I really need a bigger umbrella.