Embracing imperfection: May 2022 scans

I had my regularly planned scans near the end of May this year, which needed to be punted out six months from the end of last year, because I had sub-optimal insurance coverage and would have been extremely costly even though I’d met my deductible.

I’m feeling good, so I was expecting to see and have no changes on my MRI, which ended up not being the case. Thus, I was not technically expecting or prepared to hear less than perfect results at my doctor appointment last week.

Saving you the description with a bunch of complicated brain terms, I have what appears to be a new lesion. My spine is stable with no changes, but my brain scan showed one, new, small, inactive lesion marked in the picture below that hasn’t been in previous scans.

That means at some point between January 2021 (my last scan) and May 2022, this one showed up.

This is relatively normal. I just didn’t expect it to happen to me.

I have heard of this happening in general with other MS patients both in and out of my clinical study group. I’ve also read about this happening in the online autoimmune groups I’m a part of. People with MS can have new lesions that crop up via scans, yet not have them matched with any new or accompanying symptoms. 

But, after a stable year and a half plus, I didn’t necessarily think I’d see one on *my* MRI.

The good news is that it’s not active or enhancing, nor am I experiencing anything as far as symptoms, which are the main wins. This lesion is also apparently in a part of the brain where it is not a major concern to worry about.

But…

That also means, at this point, I can’t move to scans every two years and I will continue on with the yearly scan schedule for now.

My doctor also said I’m still on par with, or faring better than, the statistical average of MS patients who are ON drugs, who on average, will have 1-4 new lesions per year.

So, the fact that I’ve had one in a little over two years (October 2019 was the last scan that showed any change and activity), means I’m technically doing better than the average MS population (including those on drug therapy).

The plan is to continue on with what I am doing while seeing (and feeling) no disease activity and run scans on a yearly basis for now.

With this not being a test result I was expecting, I’m still processing what I think and feel about all of it. So far, it feels like getting an A- on my report card. 

Which for context, growing up, I was the valedictorian. I don’t do A minuses. But I have to remind myself that you can’t get a 4.0 in chronic disease.

You can only take a deep breath, go for a walk, and eat a salad.

May 2022

One new lesion in my brain that is (thankfully) not active or advancing.