ONE LITTLE WORD

By Suzen Fromstein

This blog post is about to get real personal, so buckle up.

One cold, blustery January morning, I couldn’t feel my feet—which, as it turns out, makes walking rather difficult. The doctor tested my nerves by stabbing ten sharp pins into my legs and feet. I couldn’t feel a single one. (I like to think I have a high pain tolerance, but this was pushing it.) He promptly referred me to a neurologist, who diagnosed me with multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease.

But—and this is what saved me—he added a very important qualifier. That word? Atypical. Meaning my diagnosis was unusual, didn’t fit the mold—kind of like me. I could work with that.

As if that weren’t enough excitement, an annual blood test flagged an elevated IgG lambda spike. My doctor suspected multiple myeloma and sent me to a cancer specialist.

Around the same time, I had my annual breast exam at my thermographer’s office. While waiting, I picked up a pamphlet and read with interest about a study linking gluten consumption to IgG lambda spikes. Was I dealing with cancer or just a really bad relationship with bread? Turns out, the study was right. The moment I broke up with gluten, my blood markers went back to normal.

Since fully embracing my Atypical identity, I’ve made it my mission to improve my quality of life in unconventional ways. I started working with a personal coach in Nova Scotia who also had MS.

During our first session, she asked, What did you do to bring on the MS? My immediate reaction? What medical school did this woman graduate from? But once I cooled down, I decided to humor her and consider the possibility that I had, in some way, contributed to the disease.

According to Louise Hay, MS represents mental hardness, hard-heartedness, iron will, inflexibility, and fear. For me, fear was the big one—fear that I was unlovable, which led me to overcompensate in every area of life. That insight was a game-changer.

If you’re facing a challenge, I invite you to explore how you might have played a role in its arrival. If you, too, are Atypical, you might be pleasantly surprised by what you learn. More importantly, embracing an Atypical mindset ensures that you stay intellectually curious which keeps you firmly in the driver’s seat of your own life.

Just as I settled into my new normal, I was diagnosed with osteoporosis—then stenosis. MS, osteoporosis, stenosis… what’s with all the -sis conditions? According to DuckDuckGo, sis stands for Student Information Services. Sounds good to me! I’m a lifelong learner, after all.

The stenosis—not the MS—eventually led me to a walker. At first, I resisted. (My ego had a lot to say about that.) But let’s be honest—seven Tylenols just to get out of bed in the morning, plus another twenty throughout the day, was not sustainable. Sorry, liver. The walker gave me freedom, so I swallowed my pride and embraced it.

These days, I couldn’t care less about what anyone thinks of my walker—Atypical. In fact, I gave it a name: Johnny, my personal support walker.

Want my advice? Make friends with whatever ails you. Embrace the fun and the cra-cra. Try different approaches—diet, lifestyle changes, meditation. I ditched gluten, eat organic when possible, take a cocktail of supplements, and Johnny and I walk every day.

If the weather’s bad, we pace the apartment hallways like security guards on a mission. The point is—get off the couch. A medical diagnosis isn’t a death sentence. If you’re Atypical, there’s always something you can do.

Even my meditation practice is Atypical. I struggled with traditional stillness, so I decided to embrace the very loud internal conversations happening in my head. Now, I begin every session with an “open mic” period, letting my invisible friends get all their chatter out before I settle in. Some days, it takes five minutes. Other days, twenty. Maybe an open mic meditation strategy will work for you, too.

If you’re anything like me, you don’t have to be defined by your job, relationships, bank account, or any diagnosis. Be Atypical