Prepared to Roll Out my Personal Profile

An old friend, Tom, called me the other day. It was long ago when we last saw each other, and he did not know I was disabled.

I was glad to hear from him, but when he asked how I was, I found myself totally unprepared to tell my story. He was my boyfriend for years, a special person in my past life. Suddenly, I was embarrassed at the prospect of telling him I could no longer do some of the things we enjoyed together. It was a foreign feeling for me.

I answered Tom's questions, mostly about MS, but when I tried to balance my usual optimistic spirit with the disabilities that MS has wrought, I faltered. In fact, I faltered as certainly as when my legs began to fail me in the past -- when I began to fall, crawl and wheel down my MS path -- and I was at a loss for words.

There was a time I wrote speeches. I also spoke in front of groups with prepared speeches and, just as often, extemporaneously. With Tom, I did not know what to say. It was like I hadn't even thought about it. Mostly because I hadn't even thought about it.

After our chat, I was disturbed. We talked for only a short time, so we covered only some highlights – but in my case they were the low lights. When we hung up, I felt he probably was left with one thought, “What a bummer for Vicki!” True, I don’t hike, drive, ski or do all kinds of stuff I did when we were friends, but I am quite fine. However, I feel like when I said goodbye to Tom he was feeling sorry for me.

This was not the first time I talked about myself presenting less than a positive impression. I had the privilege of interviewing two medical researchers. Using my journalism training, I prepared for the interview so I would know who I was talking to and what questions to ask.

Dr. Olajide Williams has many honors including the Gold Foundation Award for Humanism in Medicine and Excellence in Teaching. He works at Harlem Hospital Center and Columbia University Medical Center, both in New York. Read more about Dr. Williams here and be sure to visit Dr. Williams' blog.

Dr. Bruce Cree is a Sylvia Lawry Fellow, and he works in clinical trials focusing on MS epidemiology in San Francisco. Read more about Dr. Cree here.

I did my research - Gold Foundation Award! Sylvia Lawry Fellow! - and I was quite impressed by my subjects. However, I had not prepared to tell them about me. I have won no humanitarian awards and my only association with Sylvia Lawry is that I receive MSIF (Multiple Sclerosis International Federation) reports. However, I should have been able to tell them my MS story. I wanted them to know me and about my involvement in the topic, at least so they could respect my questions. Instead, I stumbled through answering their questions about my experience, and I knew better than that. How embarrassing.

I need to write myself a short, to-the-point personal profile telling who I am and what I do. I also need to relate my profile (and myself) with MS.

Okay. I have MS, but there are worse things. I am fine, except for my legs and arms and, well, just a few other things. After diagnosis I completed my Masters Degree. I continued working in the Travel and Hospitality Industry, telecommuted for a few years, then retired on a disability income.

Currently, I am a writer, working on various projects, and I blog. My blogs on the Internet have a modest but global readership. I surf and lurk through many others' sites, I research topics of interest to me, and I am often surprised and pleased with the results. I enjoy it very much, I am always busy, and I keep rolling along just fine.

Maybe now I'm ready for another call out of the blue or maybe another interview. I'm sitting by the phone. Hello?