Evolving, Not Ending: My Journey with Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease
I have CMT—Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. And to be completely honest, I’m not a fan. Looking back, the signs were always there, quiet and easy to dismiss. My whole life was filled with subtle hints: flat feet, rolling my ankles constantly, and as the years went on, more sprains than I could count. But the real shift happened about six months after my loving husband, Keith, passed away. In the midst of grief, my body started sending signals I couldn't ignore. It started with a persistent numbness in my left big toe. Then came wrist pain that sent me to the doctor to check for carpal tunnel. During the exam, the doctor thought the nerve conduction machine was broken—my EMG showed a mere 20% reactivity when it should have been at 100%. That sent me straight to a neurologist for a full-body EMG and genetic testing (which is very painful). The results confirmed what already ran deep in my family tree: like my older sister, my mom, Grandma, several aunts, and an uncle, I had CMT. In the t...
