The diagnosis

Beginning around September 2015, I noticed that after finishing a four- or five-mile battalion run, my left foot would smack against the ground as I stepped. I didn't know what to make of it, but it didn't affect me too much. Plus, company command was a busy time, so I didn't think it was worth seeing a doctor about.

Then, after moving to Hawaii in spring 2016, I noticed that the problem had gotten worse. Instead of happening only after four miles, it was two. I would trip over my foot while I was running, and would then slow down so that I didn't fall. I thought the problem was that I'd gotten out of shape.

By May 2016, my running was so affected that I failed the 2-mile run section of the APFT, coming in over 19 minutes. This was compared with a sub-15, 90+ point performance only a year before. Something was definitely wrong.

When I came back from the Philippines in August 2016, my doctor prescribed physical therapy, thinking it was compartment syndrome. The therapists would roll out my muscles and use dry sticks, but it didn't help. The problem wasn't that it hurt when I ran; the problem was that I couldn't control my left leg.

I was able to get by on some temporary profiles and pass the APFT with the bike event, but I still didn't know what was wrong. Things got busy again as the 25th ID began the run-up to its Warfighter exercise in early 2017, and then I transferred over to my current unit in April 2017. I left at the end of May for another month-long exercise at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, but took up the issue again when I got back.

By this point, my left calf muscle had noticeably atrophied compared with my right, and that feeling I'd had after a four-mile run a year-and-a-half before was constant, every day thing.

The next step was to do an MRI on my leg and an "electromyogram" or EMG test. Neither showed there was any problem with nerve conduction in my leg. Then, late last month, they did another MRI on my back.

Well, today I got the phone call with the results. My spinal cord is inflamed, and there's evidence of neural degeneration consistent with multiple sclerosis.

I have a lot to think about in the coming days. And of all the bad timing, I leave tomorrow for Fort Hunter Liggett, California, where I'll be for the next two months for yet another exercise.