We haven’t had a joke in a while, so I thought we’d start out with one today.
Two brothers inherit their uncle’s cattle ranch. They move to the ranch and operate it, but after a few years, they realize their herd is dwindling and soon they won’t have enough money to keep the ranch going. To top it off, their only bull has just died.
The oldest brother, who is more educated and savvier in business decides they need to buy another bull, a more potent bull that could help them rebuild their herd. His brother is a bit slow and not very intelligent, so he pretty much just does whatever the oldest brother tells him to do.
The oldest brother finds a bull for sale about 50 miles away. He tells his youngest brother, “You stay here with the ranch, and I’ll go check out this bull. If it looks like a good deal, I’ll contact you, and you can bring the trailer to haul the bull home.” The younger brother nods indicating he understood.
So, the oldest brother drives to the ranch where the bull is being sold. He looks the bull over and asks the rancher how much he wants. The rancher told him he wanted $5000 for the bull. All the oldest brother has is $4005.00. After some bargaining, the rancher agrees to accept $4000 for the bull. After handing over the money, the oldest brother said he would need to go into town to send a telegram to his younger brother to bring the trailer. “Why do you need to send a telegram? Why, don’t you just text him on his cell phone?” the rancher asked. The oldest brother replied, “My brother never did well in school, in fact, he can barely read, so he doesn’t have a cell phone. A telegram will do the trick.”
The oldest brother drove into town and found the telegraph office. He informed the telegraph operator that he needed to send a telegraph to his brother which said, “The bull is in good condition and I bought it. Hook the trailer to the pickup and drive it up here so we can load up the bull.” After typing in the message, the telegraph operator informed him it would cost $20.00. “All I have is $5.00. How many words can I get for $5.00?”, the oldest brother asked. “You can get five words,” the telegraph operator responded.
The oldest brother thought for a moment and said, “Just send one word: Comfortable.”
“How will your brother know to bring the trailer by just the word ‘Comfortable?”, the telegraph operator asked.
The oldest brother replied, “You see, he reads very slowly. So, when he reads it, it will sound like “Com For Da Bull“.
Once you were done laughing, I bet your first thought was what this joke had to do with Myasthenia Gravis. It’s kind of applicable. You see, MG is a very difficult disease to understand and explaining it to someone can be very difficult. When we try to explain symptoms that are present one minute and gone the next, it becomes pretty complex. Some people wonder how that’s even possible and the “Snowflake-effect” is beyond their comprehension. In fact, some people will wonder if we’re just making it all up or faking our symptoms.
Those of us with MG know we are not faking. It’s real, it’s inconvenient, it’s uncomfortable, it changes the way we live our lives, and there currently is no cure. The people who are around us all the time can see this, but trying to explain it to someone who has never experienced MG can be quite a chore. We have to try to explain it in terms that are the easiest to understand without diluting the message.
“MG sucks” is accurate, but it doesn’t really paint a picture for someone who wants to know about Myasthenia Gravis. Instead, we have to try to explain it in the simplest terms that someone will understand.
This may not be the perfect description, but I’ve found the following two sentences break it down as simply as I know how:
“Myasthenia Gravis is a disease where your body’s own immune system mistakenly attacks the connection between your nerves and muscles, making it hard for your muscles to get the signal to move. This causes muscle weakness that gets worse with activity (like talking, chewing, walking, or lifting your arms) and improves with rest.”
There you have it….a short description of MG in a Com For Da Bull format!
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