At first, Ronnie went back to her surgeon over and over again, who told her there was nothing wrong with her knee. Her problems with cycling continued, so Ronnie took the initiative to see a series of five neurologists, none of whom could figure out what was wrong.
"A couple of them maybe mumbled something saying 'maybe MS,'" she said, "But they wouldn't do anything about it.".
It wasn't until Ronnie saw an MS specialist did she get the answers she needed. She and her doctor created a thorough list of her symptoms and the short list of diseases that could be causing them: lupus, Lyme disease and of course, MS, among a few others.
Various screening exams were done, and slowly the two ruled out all the other causes, until MS was the only thing left.
It had been ten years since the problems began, so when Ronnie finally found out what was causing her weakness and leg pain, she was almost exuberant. "I put two thumbs up in the air," she said, "It definitely was a relief to have the name of something."
Getting Back on the Bike
Immediately, Ronnie's doctor checked her into the hospital for steroid treatment, a common form of therapy for MS patients. Most would have been alarmed by the doctor's immediate call to action, but Ronnie was just satisfied that she could get better.
"He told me, 'We can reverse some of this,' she said, "And that was fine by me."
So, Ronnie was checked into the hospital, and during her stay, the MS Bike Tour zipped past her window. "I just kind of looked at them," she said, "I guess at that point I had distanced myself from biking, saying, 'Well, I'm not really a biker anymore. I can't do that.'"
