The facts about Multiple Sclerosis

"Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a potentially debilitating disease in which your body's immune system eats away at the protective sheath that covers your nerves. This interferes with the communication between your brain and the rest of your body. Ultimately, this may result in deterioration of the nerves themselves, a process that's not reversible.

Symptoms vary widely, depending on the amount of damage and which particular nerves are affected. People with severe cases of multiple sclerosis may lose the ability to walk or speak. Multiple sclerosis can be difficult to diagnose early in the course of the disease, because symptoms often come and go — sometimes disappearing for months.

Although multiple sclerosis can occur at any age, it most often begins in people between the ages of 20 and 40. Women are more likely to develop multiple sclerosis than are men."

"Although there is still no cure for MS, effective strategies are available to modify the disease course, treat exacerbations (also called attacks, relapses, or flare-ups), manage symptoms, improve function and safety, and provide emotional support. In combination, these treatments enhance the quality of life for people living with MS."

For more information, or to donate to fund research and treatment education, click here.

All information courtesy of MayoClinic.com and The National MS Society website. The National MS Society has been approved as a charity by the Better Business Bureau.

Internet perils

Edna: Margie, look at the time! Why didn't you tell me I'd been online this long? Honestly, sometimes I think the Internet is both a blessing and a curse, and that's the truth.

Margie: Edna, that's why nothing gets done around here. I suppose you're trying to find a man. You best be careful because bad folks can get information about you from that computer.

Edna: I'm always careful online, that's another reason why the Internet can be a dangerous thing. That, and people emailing you left and right, even though you said you never wanted to hear from them again.

Margie: Edna, do I hear gossip there? Who did you tell not to email you anymore? Mr. Jones? The mailman?

I worry about young children, Edna. Where's the fun of going to the library and researching topics from books? And all these old perverts trying to get to the children. Those perverts are the worst.

Edna: They are, aren't they? People with more time than morals (or sense) should not be allowed to have an Internet connection. We should write our Congresswoman about that, she hasn't had a letter from us in at least a week.

I worry about the children too, because I fear that the Internet is raising a generation of young people to be lazy about what they read online, and they're not as prudent with their personal information as they should be. In our day, there just wasn't the chance to publish your business all over kingdom come for perfect strangers to read. Imagine, we never would have taken out an ad in the Jericho Courier telling people that our "relationship status" had changed. Well, I wouldn't have anyway, I had more decorum than some people around here.

Margie: Good idea. Let's write her tonight. No pervert should be allowed to have a computer!

I'm glad we never spread our business all over town. Look at some of these blogs we visit. Some of them have near nekkid pictures. I saw one today of a nekkid cowboy. Edna, are all perverts male?

Edna: I think you already know the answer to that, you floozy.