Let The Good Times Roll

     With all of the sad news from this past week, I decided to share better things, stories of how my life with MS can at times get better.

     Foot drop, at times, will temporarily relent. Does this mean that I can go running? By far the answer is, "No." Rather, I take the time to enjoy walking around without needing to brace myself on the handles of my walker so that I can throw my weight into lifting my leg high enough to let my toes clear the floor.

      Fatigue can go up and down as well. Yes, there have been times in which I was so tired that it was difficult to lift a fork to feed myself, which if you know me makes it all the more incomprehensible. There are also times in which I have enough energy to: get a shower, get dressed, go make coffee, and still hold a tolerably human conversation. I cherish those times, almost feeling I've just come off of another IV of Solu-Medrol without the aftertaste.

      Why would I want to share this topic? Well, it's actually for two reasons: to encourage whomever ends up reading this and to remind me not to lose hope. I am the one I know of that needs the most reminding not to quit, or to lose momentum. I also encourage others that even though it can seem dark, there are times when a little light can pierce through.

Now, without further delay, here is my salute to the memory of Chris Cornell

Soundgarden

Audioslave

Temple of the Dog

Farewell, adieu, and say hello to heaven for us all.

"The best laid plans . . ."

Once more unto the gym, dear friends, once more; Or grab some sweatpants and that cheesy bread!

     Well, I tried to make a commitment to get back to the gym this week. I had it all planned. I was going to resurrect my physical therapy (PT) routine, return to the gym for a chair yoga class, and share my results here, hoping to show someone that this is NOT a losing battle.  

 BUT other pans were already in play:

• Weather interfered with a project that my wife is doing which required piles of wood to be placed all over the carport, effectively keeping m scooter immobile.
• Weather also changed so drastically as to hamper my mobility. Basically, changing weather and pressure escalate my symptoms.
• Which made it too tiring to walk to the car
• And too tiring to go to the gym
• And causing me to have severe bladder leaking
• And making it difficult even to hold a fork/spoon/knife/sandwich/cup
• But I was able to adapt my plans from what I wanted to do into what I could do.
• I managed to do weight lifting exercises, using a 10 pound dumbbell.
• I still tried to keep eating better, which basically meant, "Stop eating junk."
• I was able to adapt some, but not all, of my leg exercises to a routine while seated in my rollator.

Hopefully, this plan will come to fruition by the end of the week.

But, here's a preview of what would've been posted:

• PT exercises for MS physical therapy:
  For a few weeks I had physical therapy at The Shepherd Center in Atlanta, GA. While there I learned a few exercises that PLANNED on starting back up this week: a routine of arm exercises and floor exercises that were adapted to my walker.
• Not all of these would be done every day
• Mon, Wed, Fri
• Tue, Thu
  The goal would be to be able to do all of them per day.
• End result: a weekly accountability with myself

• Possibly switching from weekly posts to semi-weekly (insert sarcastic, "Oooo" sound)

Disturbed dropped plates; DJs drop the bass. I just drop anything.

     Dropping things is a common event in my life. But MS has given me some good examples (a lot of them are quite funny in retrospect) of how often and oddly I drop things. Other times, this MesS has prevented me from even trying to hold valuables or babies.

     Using the cliche, "Dropped the ball," fits this MesS very well. I have forgotten things, remembered the wrong information, and at times missed very important events. In fact, I'm sure that I've forgotten something already while I'm typing this. Usually, I have to rely on my phone and my reminders to keep me on task. Yet, that only works IF I remember to set a reminder not to forget to do what I needed to remember. So, here's a few mishaps and their resulting adaptations I've had to make.

     I have dropped so many keys so many times that I now make sure that I know where to find a spare set before I leave. My van is a conversion with elevated passenger and driver seats. I have actually dropped my keys on the floor and under the raised seat so that I needed someone to reach under the seat and retrieve the keys. Then, I've also managed to drop not only my keys, but also remotes, plates, bowls, and cups in the void that is the couch. If you can, then imagine me using my walker for balance as I, with very little success, try to search under the couch for a dropped set of keys. Yet, the most frustrating place in which I have dropped my keys is my own pocket. Thanks to lack of feeling and poor coordination, it can add anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes just to find my keys in my pockets.

     Now, I LOVE coffee. Who doesn't, right? But at times the liquid of joy, cradle of my life, can also be a pain thanks to MS. From unsteady hands, to missing my cup, to sudden spasms, the mere task of holding a cup of hot coffee can be monumental.

     But, the most frustrating aspect is being afraid to hold babies. Please don't think that I slip into the pseudo-macho, "I ain't holdin' no baby," type. My reluctance to hold a baby stems from my fear of dropping the child, literally. From spasticity to spasms to sudden weakness, I simply do not trust myself. It was most painful when we traveled to see my brother and his wife shortly after their first baby was born.

     I drop A LOT of things, but sometimes I just have to pick up the pieces, clean up the mess and get another plate, or glass, or key, or just ask my wife to hold the baby beside me.