Fellow workers ask: What is wrong with you? What did you do? Did you hurt your leg? Ankle?

I answer: Nothing. Too much. No, I have MS. I overdid it and am having trouble walking.

Response: Silence. Turn and walk away.

What I wish I could say: What you can't see is the blurred vision, the tingling in my hands and feet, the strange dizziness, the pain, the weakness in my hands that make holding the phone difficult, the cognitive struggles that make dialing the phone difficult, writing difficult, remembering difficult.

Family calls. Another lecture about what I shouldn't have done. No concern. No empathy. No support. Just criticism.

What I wish I could say: Why does this journey have to be so difficult? Do I matter so little to you that you cannot, just once, ask how I am? Hold your tongue on your lecture and give encouragement instead? Why must I walk this road alone?