RE: Subject: possible MSA of my father

[Guest guest]

Vera,

That was a beautifful message. You are right, the one good thing most of us

experience from this illness is that it does magnfiy our relationships with and our appreciation for our family members. I know our family is appreciating every moment now - moments we probably took for granted before my brother's illness. The illness is devastating to everyone it affects, but there can be lots of good experiences and good family time in spite of the illness. I have come to have so much respect and admiration for my brother's courage and determination in the face of this "sentence" and such awe of my sister-in-law's devotion and commitment to him. I never would have imagined that either of them would respond to this challenge in the way they have.

Best regards,

Jerry Cash

possible MSA of my fatherHi all!its good to see that there is a group here at yahoo that allows people to exchange their thoughts and experiences with MSA.I´ve been looking up a lot about this disease lately because it seems that my 58 year old father shows symptoms of it (slurred speech was the first sign starting nearly 2 years ago, orthostatic hypotension and some ataxia). The first docttor he went to 6 months ago said, its just a low blood pressure problem; now another doc says its perhaps MSA...He has been in the hospital for a week so they could check out things, but found nothing, they could just confirm the symptoms and orthostatic hypotension. But as far as I can see, no matter what diagnosis they'll come up with, it wont be good...Since the low bloodpressue when standing really seems to be a problem for him already , especially in the afternoon, he probably has to give up his job very soon.My mother and sisters are of course very nervous and afraid of what lies ahead; MSA or ShyDrager seems to be a devastating desease in many cases.Since I´m the oldest sibling I feel somehow responsible for helping them and dealing with the things that my father cannot deal anymore (especially in the future), but I´m not sure how... I also dont know if I should tell my family about the stuff I read on the internet about MSA, I dont know if they can deal with that dark glipse in the future...thanks for reading, I just had to "talk" to someone :)greetings from germany!chrisIf you do not wish to belong to shydrager, you may unsubscribe by sending a blank email to shydrager-unsubscribe