Challenges
Millie and me
by Cissie Mathias
Progressive MS stole many
things from the author. Her
dog Millie helps her get
some of them back.
my husband Ken’s dismay. My
therapy dog Millie almost always
likes what I cook, though, as long
as there’s some form of meat in it.
a 12-week-old Lab-Chow mix,
and healthy, although with a healing broken hind leg and malnourished—nothing I couldn’t handle
with a little time and lots of TLC.
Ken helped me with the task
of fattening Millie up, socializing
and housetraining her. Because
of our work schedules, one of
us was with her all the time.
She slept with him at night and
with me during the day. I didn’t
know dogs slept so much. By six
months of age, she had transformed into a sleek, beautiful,
playful but still shy 30-pound
dog. Now, at four and a half
years, she’s 53 pounds, outgoing
and confident.
Scraggy, skinny and scared
Let me share Millie’s story: The
summer of 2005, Sara, a work
colleague, had brought Millie
to the rehab hospital where we
worked the midnight shift (I
was an LPN). The puppy had
appeared in a corn field near
Sara’s house a few days earlier—a
scraggy, skinny, hungry, scared
10-pound ball of ratty fur. Sara
said it took 45 minutes to pluck
off all the ticks. Then it took
three baths to get rid of the fleas.
Millie came to work with her that
fateful Saturday night and immediately took up with me, crawling
into my lap and going to sleep.
Well, knowing I had no business
with a dog, I took her home anyway. The vet determined she was
Millie came to work with her that
with a dog, I took her home any-
For several years now, I’ve been reading about people with MS
who travel the world over, run
marathons, work tirelessly on
the computer out of their home,
write books, head committees—
and on and on.
I read about these people and I
wonder, “What’s wrong with me?”
I asked my doctor, “Why can’t
I do all those things?” My doctor’s answer went something like
this, “MS is like a totally different
disease with each person. Don’t
compare yourself to others because
you aren’t anyone else. You are
unique.” Of course, I knew this
already—in my mind. I just found
it hard to accept in my heart.
I have progressive MS. Most
everything I’ve read since being
diagnosed doesn’t apply to me
or meet my needs. The media
fail to address or minister to the
emotional and practical needs of
people with my kind of MS. I am
still able to carry out my “ADLs”
(activities of daily living) in spite
of daily symptoms. I enjoy cooking—creatively, sometimes to
this, “MS is like a totally different c already—in my mind. I just found a a people with my kind of MS. I am A of daily symptoms. I enjoy cook-
Millie gives me a reason to greet
every day with a smile.
