Well believe it or not my husband was fired today! For such a big multi-million dollar company. They have made so many irresponsible choices. My husband worked for In-N-Out Burger. Some of you may not have heard of them. They are family owned. They have around 230 stores in California, Arizona, Nevada, and now two or three in Texas. In-N-Out Burger claims to be a Christian company. On the bottom of their cups they have John 3:16.

To me a Christian company should admit when they made a mistake. For goodness sakes due to the negligence of managers issuing paint products they knew nothing about. My husband now has lungs that are 90 years old, severe COPD and Asthma due to chemical exposure.

Instead of admitting they made a mistake and make it right. They chose to maliciously harass and retaliate against my husband. As if it wasn't hard enough on him to continue to work. They immediately put him under a microscope. They ended up firing him because he had administration time on his time card. This is what they put down if they were straightening their company van up, washing it, getting an oil change, ect. So they came at my husband and basically interrogated him for two hours. Asking him questions like, ok on January 12, 2012 at 8:30am you had 15 minutes of admin time. What were you doing???? My husband nor any other employee was ever told to write down specifics. Since my husband couldn't remember 10 1/2 months ago what he did That was an admin task. They claim he stole and fired him. All just bullshit. They have only added fuel to our lawsuits. Now we will have a wrongful termination and harassment suits to go with the other two.

My husband worked for them for over 8 years. It is amazing how quickly a dedicated employee with great reviews. Can end up like this. It's funny that on his termination letter they actual say...."we value honesty and integrity and rely on each of our associates to except responsibility for their actions". REALLY!!! I guess IN-N-OUT BURGER is one of those companies that is a "do as I say and not as I do" kind of "Christian" company. They need to take their own words and follow them. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO MY HUSBAND! That is what they preach...I guess they just need to learn how to practice what they preach!

I hope if you are reading this blog that you no longer give business to IN-N-OUT BURGER! Until they step up and do the right thing!

Have a great Saturday everyone.
Thanks
Christine

Depression...do you feel you suffer from it? I have been on depression medication since I was diagnosed with MS in 2005. A few increases since then. I can normally just let go of stress, aggravation, and my illness. Lately that is not the case.

This ordeal with my husbands work injury. The lawsuit and now we are pretty sure they are firing him for some BS crap they have fabricated. You know if it were my company I feel especially one that claims to be a Christian company. Admit you made a mistake and make it right.

This entire thing is getting to me. I have to be the strong one all the time. My husband just can't handle stress. Today I stayed in bed until 4:30 this afternoon. I could have stayed in there longer too. I just want a few days of peace and no company BS! This whole thing is going to end up causing me to have a MS attack. I have got to find a way to let my stress and worries go.

It would be easier if my husband wasn't so upset and basically screwed by the company he works or worked for. I tell you I am about ready to go public with their name and exactly what they have done and still continue to do. Maybe being in the public eye will wake up their CEO and owner.

How do you relieve your stress? How do you not let it effect your health? As I have said normally I am solid as a rock. I guess day after day of company malicious harassment and retaliation. It's effecting my depression.

I am on Facebook so send me a friend request.
http://www.facebook.com/christine.thompson

I am on Twitter too! Follow me!
@mywonderMSlife

Have a wonderful day everyone!
Remember to keep laughing!
Thanks
Christine

Do you exercise your brain daily? We need to to keep our neurons active. I play a ton of games on my phone everyday. I play hangman, crosswords and much more. You know when I think about it my phone is really for playing games and posting my blog. Ohh texting too!

When a part of the brain is injured through MS it's important to continue to work the brain and build new connections among neurons around the injured site. This helps keep the brain evolving to help compensate for the deficit.

This can be done with by playing games. You can play checkers, a board game, word games or even playing a musical instrument. A variety of activities is the best stimulation.

Below is a link to an article of the top ten websites for brain exercises.

http://longevity.about.com/od/mentalfitness/tp/braintrain.htm

So after reading my blog go play a game! Don't forget to laugh too!

I can be found on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/christine.thompson

I can also be found on Twitter
@mywonderMSlife

Have a great day!
Thanks
Christine

Are you having a bad day? How do you deal with the stress? I am having a stressful crappy day! I feel like I am about to snap!

As some of you know my husband was seriously injured at work. For 4 years he used a paint product that when mixed it releases isocyanates.
When your not taught how to properly protect yourself and given the proper respirator. A person ends up with severely damaged lungs!

Doctors released my husband back to work. As long as he had the proper respirator. We have an attorney and are moving forward to protect my husband and the other employees. Only my husband has been given the proper respirator.

So needless to say his employer seems to riding my husband. He had a two hour meeting today. They had 24 times he had gotten home (GPS) and was still working. It's put in as admin. So back in January they were expecting my husband to know on that day what admin work did you do! REALLY! That was 10 months ago!

Then after several attempts of trying to get ahold of the labor commissioner. I got a return call today. The snippy worker informs me that they claim they mailed us a court date and we didn't show up. REALLY!! We NEVER got any type of correspondence from them!!!!

They told me I would have to sue them civilly now. Ohh no I contacted my local Congressman and my local Senators office. The Senators office will call labor commissioner in the morning!

This is the stressful day I am having! I sure hope it gets better!

I am on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/christine.thompson

I am on Twitter to...follow me...please! Lol
@mywonderMSlife

You will not believe this!!! My husbands ex-wife called him this morning. After all that last night and kicking her son out. She and her boyfriend want him to come back! REALLY someone needs therapy!!!

Do you ever wish you could go back in time? If so where would you want to go back to? I have thought about this. At times I would say yes and other times I would say no.

I would not want to go back in time because I did not enjoy most of my life. I am happy now. Sometimes I think I would like to go back in time to be a better mother. What I mean is be the kind of mother I wasn't. A mother that played games, got more involved in his school and homework. I was more focused on my job and working my way up the ladder. I was trying to prove to myself I would not end up like my mother did. I was a loving mother I just made some big mistakes. Mistakes that have effected my sons life.

If I was able to go back it would be to make sure my son did better in school and enjoyed school. His life would be totally different. I struggle with his choices being my fault. Don't get me wrong he is a loving, caring son. I just would have felt better if he had finished high school and went on to college. I worry all the time if I died tonight he would not be able to survive and may end up homeless. This is my biggest fear.

I wish I had more patience and had learned to communicate differently. Growing up I learned the way to communicate was to yell. It is something I am trying to change about myself. I saw my mother scream and drive my father away. I worry I am following in my mothers foot steps. I love my mother but the last thing I want to do is end up being like her.

I guess if I could have the option to go back to being a child and have a different up bringing. I would give it serious thought. It's like a catch 22. I feel I am a wonderful woman who is compassionate and caring. All the things that happened in my life have made me the person I am today. Maybe this is why GOD doesn't give us this choice. We have free will and make the choices we make for a reason. One day we will completely understand why we did what we did. Until then I guess we need to stop second guessing the choices we made.

You can find me on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/christine.thompson

I am also on Twitter. Follow me!!
@mywonderMSlife

Have a blessed day everyone!
Remember....
“Only God can move mountains, but faith and prayer can move God.”

Thanks,
Christine

Do you have lesions on your brain? I do not know how many I have. I am not sure but I think my doctor has told me that lesions cause no pain. If that true then why do I constantly have migraines? I think it because my lesions are irritating some nerves.

I was doing some research trying to find out if lesions cause pain. I found some interesting information on lesions. Did you know that that our body try's to re-myelinate? Sometimes it works. It's not back to what it was before but it has some what repaired itself. I have never been told this. It is great to know!
I also learned that I may have "black holes" in my skull! Omg!!!!
I also found out that we should always have contrast when we have an MRI. I have always asked for this when getting an MRI. You will read further done as to why you should have contrast.

MS does its damage by causing the nerves in localized areas in the brain and spinal cord to lose their protective sheaths, called myelin. At first, when the myelin is being attacked, the body brings a higher blood supply to the attacked area or areas to fight the attack, and they becomes swollen and inflamed. These areas now become "lesions." (A "lesion" is simply an area of abnormality in the brain tissue.) If the areas being attacked are large enough they can be seen on an MRI. At this point, when they are inflamed and blood-engorged, they are called "active lesions" because the inflammation is actively attacking the nerve cells. At first the nerves themselves haven't changed much and they appear (and have the same density) as the healthy areas around them. The body attempts to repair the damage that is being done and sometimes these areas try to re-myelinate, with varying success.
They may disappear from the next MRI. They aren't perfect in their function, but the areas may return to a normal appearance.

If the nerves do not re-myelinate and the damage continues, for a long time the lesions sit as scars. These scarred areas contain damaged and dying cells, their blood supply shrinks, and they become dense--more dense than the normal brain around them. These are the classic MS "plaques" and are considered old lesions. They show up as the bright areas, also called "hyperintense," most of us have seen in pictures and on our films. If the attack on the myelin sheath is too strong for the immune system to repair, more and more myelin disappears and the area of nerves eventually dies. Then it completely scars and contracts. The blood flow is decreased to that area and the body tries to reabsorb it. The area then becomes "less dense" than the surrounding normal nerve tissue. After a longer time the scar can reabsorb completely and the area becomes "empty." It's called a black hole. I thought these were just out in space???

Now the very old, mostly dead areas where nerve fibers have died will be seen as less dense (empty) spaces or "black holes". If there are many of these empty areas, the brain will eventually contract and shrink around them. This will be depicted as a loss of brain volume. This is also known as brain atrophy. It is particularly seen in the progressive types of MS. In brain atrophy there will be an increased space between the skull and the brain. The interior area of CSF will be larger. Also the deep folds in the brain (called sulci) will appear widened.

Black holes are areas where a good number of the nerve fibers have been lost. But, not all of them are completely dead. New techniques are showing that black hole can heal and disappear, leaving some scarred tissue behind.

For the most part all visible lesions can be seen without contrast. They show up as T2 Hyperintensities just like all lesions. The problem is that the neurologist can't tell if a lesion is old or new. So new activity will be missed and the MRI may be erroneously dismissed as "unchanged" or "no progression." In the inflammation of new lesions there is a breach in the blood-brain barrier. Wherever there is a break in the blood-brain barrier, the contrast will leak into the brain tissue and the areas will "highlight" or "enhance." They show up as even brighter than the brain around them and brighter than an old, scarred lesion. So new lesions will appear as "enhancing," or "active." Also, older hyperintense lesions that have undergone a new attack at their adges or margins. This is also called reactivation. Lesions that have reactivated may show an even brighter enhancing rim or ring. The appearance of an "enhancing ring or rim" is especially characteristic of MS. When you compare the regular MRI to the contrast MRI you can see the increased brightness of this reactivated, old lesion. New lesions with active inflammation typically show up for 4 to 6 weeks before they scar down and become "old" lesions.

In some cases a newly active MS lesion may not be visible on a regular MRI because the area of nerves, though inflamed, is still pretty much intact and has normal brain density. On the regular MRI it will look like normal brain. Without contrast it won't show up and will likely be missed. When the next phase of MRI is done the contrast is injected into the bloodstream.

There are other techniques such as fast-SPIN, STIR, SPIN-echo, but these are techniques used to clarify tiny differences in the tissue and to make lesions stand out more clearly. That's it in a small nutshell.

I hope you found this information helpful and as knowledgable as I did.

Have a great Sunday! May GOD Bless all of you.

Find me on Facebook!
http://www.facebook.com/christine.thompson

Follow me on Twitter too!
@mywonderMSlife

Thanks for reading my blog!
Christine

Do your legs feel wobbly? What about what I call "sudden electrical jolts" your legs? Can't forget about how sensitive my feet are too! Lately I have been having a lot of "electrical jolts"in my legs. It so weird. I am just sitting or laying down and out of no where my leg just jumps or flings out.

A few times I have had a few "jolts" one after the other. My leg looks like its have convulsions or a grand maul seizure! Sometimes it happens in bed. I have kicked my husband when we are fast asleep. It startles us both.

Oh the joys of MS! You know I just thought if I was mad at him I could "accidentally" have a "jolt" and kick him! Lol! As I am typing this my frickin leg is jumping! Maybe subconsciously I do this already in bed! I certainly will never tell! Lol

One of the hardest things to deal with is how sensitive my feet have become. I sucks because I love to get pedicures and it makes it very difficult. It feels like a across between a tickle and a sudden poke or prick. Even trying to cut my toenails is a problem. In the past I have told the lady's doing my feet that I have MS. Most of the time they do not speak very much English. They nod there heads as if they know what I am talking about. So now I just say I am very ticklish. It's just easier!

I try to focus in hopes that I can try to control my feet from jumping. I keep repeating to myself....."don't jump....feet please not this time"! It becomes embarrassing. Then they start talking to each other in another language. I know they are talking crap about me. Otherwise she would have spoken in her broken English. Right?

I just can't not stand it when they take with each other. How are you not supposed to think its about you? One thing I get really insulted about is when the person comes over to start your feet. Then stops and puts on gloves! I am thinking she thinks my feet are gross or something! I personally could never do anyone else's feet. Not even a friends. I can do my husbands and I am not thrilled about that either, but I do it!

If I had that kind of job I would have on gloves that went to my elbows. You wouldn't here me speaking another language. You would here me constantly gagging and an occasional vomit in my mouth! This is why even though they may have talked some smack about me. I still tip them. I mean she did earn it from chiseling the crusts of my heals!

I hope everyone has a great Saturday! It's getting to be cooler here!!! Woo Hoo!
Remember to laugh today!

Find me on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/christine.thompson

I am also on Twitter
@mywonderMSlife

Thanks for reading my blog!
Christine

Do your legs feel wobbly? What about what I call "sudden electrical jolts" your legs? Can't forget about how sensitive my feet are too! Lately I have been having a lot of "electrical jolts"in my legs. It so weird. I am just sitting or laying down and out of no where my leg just jumps or flings out.

A few times I have had a few "jolts" one after the other. My leg looks like its have convulsions or a grand maul seizure! Sometimes it happens in bed. I have kicked my husband when we are fast asleep. It startles us both.

Oh the joys of MS! You know I just thought if I was mad at him I could "accidentally" have a "jolt" and kick him! Lol! As I am typing this my frickin leg is jumping! Maybe subconsciously I do this already in bed! I certainly will never tell! Lol

One of the hardest things to deal with is how sensitive my feet have become. I sucks because I love to get pedicures and it makes it very difficult. It feels like a across between a tickle and a sudden poke or prick. Even trying to cut my toenails is a problem. In the past I have told the lady's doing my feet that I have MS. Most of the time they do not speak very much English. They nod there heads as if they know what I am talking about. So now I just say I am very ticklish. It's just easier!

I try to focus in hopes that I can try to control my feet from jumping. I keep repeating to myself....."don't jump....feet please not this time"! It becomes embarrassing. Then they start talking to each other in another language. I know they are talking crap about me. Otherwise she would have spoken in her broken English. Right?

I just can't not stand it when they take with each other. How are you not supposed to think its about you? One thing I get really insulted about is when the person comes over to start your feet. Then stops and puts on gloves! I am thinking she thinks my feet are gross or something! I personally could never do anyone else's feet. Not even a friends. I can do my husbands and I am not thrilled about that either, but I do it!

If I had that kind of job I would have on gloves that went to my elbows. You wouldn't here me speaking another language. You would here me constantly gagging and an occasional vomit in my mouth! This is why even though they may have talked some smack about me. I still tip them. I mean she did earn it from chiseling the crusts of my heals!

I hope everyone has a great Saturday! It's getting to be cooler here!!! Woo Hoo!
Remember to laugh today!

Find me on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/christine.thompson

I am also on Twitter
@mywonderMSlife

Thanks for reading my blog!
Christine

As I have said I love reality TV shows. Tonight I was watching Project Runway. You know it's funny. Most of the time I like an outfit it's the one the judges hate. I am no fashionista by far but in my opinion I think clothes that match is a good thing. I can guarantee that if I was in a store and say a lady wearing a polka dot shirt with a floral pair of pants and bright yellow shoes I would laugh.

Exactly when did it become a fashion no-no to have clothes that match? I also like it when a persons shoes match their purse. This is another thing they do not recommend. I guess Tim Gunn would not like my navy cotton stretch Just my Size shorts and my pink t-shirt! He would probably tell me " what are you wearing.. It's hideous darling"! Lol maybe it was my hair pulled back in a ponytail that through him through a loop?? Ya right! Lol

You know even if I was skinny and could afford famous designer label clothes. I can not see me wearing anything that didn't match. I really believe that stripes and a print fabric do not go together at all. I think they look strange and sometimes comical!

I would love to see a Project Runway entire season where they had to all make plus size clothes. It is hard to find pretty, feminine type clothes. I get a lot of plus size catalogs in the mail. I think once you purchase something from a plus size catalog your suddenly on "the fat list". Every plus size company now mows your big and sends you there catalog! I get these catalogs with over the top church dresses. Complete with big hats, shoes and purses. At least they match! I just can't imagine wearing basically a prom dress to church. Who wants to wear a girdle or spanx to church? Or anywhere?

If I see one more catalog selling spandex or leggings in any size over a 6 I am gonna loose it! Big ladies should not wear spandex, leggings or skinny jeans....or shirts with stripes that go around our body! That much I know for sure...I don't need to be a fashionista to know that one!

I dress comfortable now. I am at the point in my life that I don't care if others do not like what I am wearing. I am fat, I wear comfy clothes and I am happy to be me!

Have a great day!

I am on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/christine.thompson

Also you can follow me on Twitter
@mywonderMSlife

Thanks
Christine