Today, on St Nicholas Day;) a contribution has appeared in the Weinstadtjournal.
Thank you very much, Alexander Hartmann !!
Here you can have a look:
https://weinstadtjournal.de/?p=10515
(*translation:
You do not look at her. Not yet.
Katja Schmollack lives in the old town of Hochheim. She likes to live there. She finds Hochheim and the Hochheimers simply great. She loves the flair of the vineyards and the cozy streets … but she herself is in a dead end. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) almost four years ago. Since then, the disease is progressing steadily despite drug-related attitude. But there is a chance for a way out. There is the possibility of chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation, which predicts a stoppage of MS to 75-83%.
This treatment is not supported by the health insurance in Germany, so she has to organize it herself. For this she needs 50,000 euros.
Here Katja Schmollack describes her story herself:
“Almost four years ago, on Friday, March 6, 2015, I received the diagnosis MS.”
How did it all start?
After Effects, which I had already done in 2004, but had dismissed, I realized in 2012 that I stumbled again and again, even if I deliberately concentrated. For the first time in September 2014, when I was walking, I could not lift my feet off the ground at times. As of January 2015, when I was walking with my dog Miko, I noticed that after about 4km I almost lost control of my legs.
I suspected a mechanical problem or a blocked nerve and went to an orthopedist. The orthopedist referred me to the neurologist. When I had to paint circles with his feet in the air. In my opinion, I did it very well, but the neurologist noticed the control weakness and sent me to the radiologist for MRI.
Before this date, I ran again a huge round of doggy so that even a possible inflammation as a cause would be visible. I almost got into the MRT afterwards. In the tube, I found it relatively relaxed despite the volume and even fell asleep for a moment. In between, I was injected contrast agent.
Then I was asked to talk to the neurologist. These minutes have burned into my brain as if they were about to happen again …
She talked and talked, showed me the MRI images, talked about scarring on the nervous tissue typical of MS. And that some of these scarring are acute sites of inflammation, they see in the areas that have taken up the contrast agent.
This is typical in MS. MS, again and again this undefinable detail in their descriptions. Although MS was a term for me, I could not assign the word to my recordings. That’s why I eventually interrupted her with the question, “Aha, yes, but why MS?”
She then said in a calm voice that she knew nothing else, giving a similar picture. Then I started to cry – although I still did not understand it and although I find it difficult to cry in front of strangers. Something in me had understood it before my mind, otherwise I would not have cried. And at the same time my mind was waiting for the moment when she said, “Oh no, that’s why you do not have to cry, I meant it differently!” But that moment did not come. Instead, she handed me a handkerchief and said, “I’m sorry.”
I am then through the waiting room from the practice and can still remember every single face of the waiting patient. Everyone was staring at me. Everyone knew it. That’s how I perceived it then.
Then on the road I stood for several minutes and did not remember where my car is. It took me four hours to remember.
This is a moment you can not imagine. I think everyone experiences such a moment differently. And then follow months and years, in which you get to know each other completely new.
The next day I hammered on the door of my neurologist, who immediately referred me to the University of Mainz for diagnostics.
Read more here on www.katjas-chance.de)