Getting through it like getting M to S in the alphabet

I remember watching Teri Garr for the first time in elementary school. Many of us in school wanted to go see the movie “Mr. Mom.” In the comedy, Michael Keaton plays an unemployed father and husband. Garr, who played Keaton’s character’s wife, finds a job and provides for the family.

I didn’t really pay attention to Garr’s acting career again until much later in life. I recognized her on an episode of “MASH.” Years after that it was seeing her in “Young Frankenstein,” a clever comedy movie from the 1970s poking fun at the actual Frankenstein story. I usually watch “Young Frankenstein” to celebrate Halloween, but because of schedules I didn’t this year.

Unfortunately, we will only be able to see Garr in her work as she died Oct. 29 at the age of 79.

I watched Christina Applegate in “Married With Children.” The quite edgy TV show from the 1990s, Applegate played the ditzy blonde daughter in the family whose members continually went after each other. I thought the show had its moments, but it was too repetitive for me to be considered a dedicated fan.

Garr and Applegate had one thing in common; multiple sclerosis. Complications from it is what took Garr’s life. When I watched “Mr. Mom” on the big screen, it was about the same time her life started to change because of it.

According to the Associated Press, “It was also during those years that Garr began to feel “a little beeping or ticking” in her right leg. It began in 1983 and eventually spread to her right arm as well, but she felt she could live with it. By 1999 the symptoms had become so severe that she consulted a doctor. The diagnosis: multiple sclerosis.

For three years Garr didn’t reveal her illness.

‘I was afraid that I wouldn’t get work,” she explained in a 2003 interview. “People hear MS and think, ‘Oh, my God, the person has two days to live.’”

After going public, she became a spokesperson for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, making humorous speeches to gatherings in the U.S. and Canada.

“You have to find your center and roll with the punches because that’s a hard thing to do: to have people pity you,” she commented in 2005. “Just trying to explain to people that I’m OK is tiresome.”

Applegate, 52, has a different story. According to NBC, “Since revealing she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2021, she has been candid about her health and how’s she’s doing.

Though, at times, she struggles to accept her diagnosis, she’s admitted. ‘I’m still sitting here like, ‘Boohoo, woe is me.’ I’m still mad about it,’ she said on the June episode of her podcast, “MeSsy,” which she co-hosts with actor Jamie-Lynn Sigler who has lived with MS for more than 20 years.”

To spare you from the medical terminology, MS is like a short circuit between the spinal cord and muscles. Doctors say it’s an autoimmune problem when the body mistakenly attacks itself. The symptoms are common among people. Some people feel like their leg went to sleep and you can’t move it, or can only move it by centimeters. You want to move your leg forward enough to position yourself to get out of the chair. But it is like reciting the alphabet from M to S and you stop at P and your leg can’t go any further. Depending on the condition, there may be a day when you get to S. Who knows when?

The beeping or ticking feel Garr explained is constant by some. I’ve heard others say it is more like a tingly feel, when you hit your elbow hard against something. The feeling never goes away. The severity and timing of the symptoms is what makes MS vastly different.

Some people have mild cases of MS and it goes in remission, like Christmas decorations in early January. The symptoms might come back weeks or months later and might stay weeks or months. The symptoms might come back stronger and take even more usefulness out of the leg, for example, that is slow to move. Maybe the walking cane has to be traded in for a wheelchair. Infant grandchildren shouldn’t be held because there is not enough confidence the arm has enough strength to hold the child.

I’ve read some holistic treatments include horse riding or intentional bee stings. Treatment using horses have better reviews than the bees’ chemistry. There are medications to hopefully ease the symptoms. Make the ticking go away. But the side effects are worse for some than having the MS symptoms. They take the medication on a Monday morning with plans to be over the side effects by Wednesday afternoon.

They wait until next week to take the meds again as they don’t want to be less-than for the weekend visitors or plans.

They also wait and wonder if the leg will move again. For more information, go online to https://www.nationalmssociety.org.