I have many things in place that keep me safe from falls on a daily basis and I thought today I’d list each one: Hooveround MPV5 this is my everyday motorized wheelchair that I use all the time outside my condo and sometimes in my condo. Plus it is used always with my handicap vehicle. My drive rollator walker. I use this around the condo if I feel strong enough. 3. My Med Alert system. I wear my bracelet everyday….
It’s Saturday which means I don’t have my aid. I love my aid, I truly do. I’m so grateful for everything she does but I look forward to my weekends and my alone time. Is that bad? It is nice to get out of bed whenever I want and get dressed whenever I want. Sometimes I even stay in pajamas all day. My week is still busy enough to tire me out. It doesn’t take much. I like to watch…
I went into the gym in my building this week. It isn’t a large gym but they have more than enough to get a good workout. I have been trying to do some weight lifting exercises in my condo over the weekend. The problem is I’m exhausting myself and my arms and I’m alone. It is causing problems for me when I’m trying to get around. Not the safest thing for someone with MS to be doing. I decided to…
My plans for today got ruined thanks to stomach issues. Since I can’t always control the backend chute I couldn’t risk having an accident outside my home. I was supposed to have mahjong today and I’m so bummed I had to cancel. I love playing and look forward to it each week. This would have been very welcome on a Monday replacing physical therapy. I have no problems skipping that. I started today with an “accident”. Right when my aid…
I was talking this morning to my step sister about MS attacks or relapses if you choose. We were talking about someone undiagnosed for years therefore not on any MS disease modification medicine. I told her how lucky I was that I was quickly diagnosed but more so that way back then there was ANY medicine for MS. I strongly believe that if I wasn’t on some kind of medicine I would have been completely disabled within a window of…
I say this all the time, you can’t plan for things because you just don’t know. What doesn’t cause problems one day may be a gigantic obstacle the next day. One day you feel fine the next you can’t get out of bed. People around me always say it’s the weather or may say maybe you’re getting sick, I just know it’s the nature of the disease. A good example is when I was playing mahjong. I’ve had issues many…
I’ve been having such problems again going to the bathroom. This is an issue I’ve struggled with for years but continues to to get worse. Every time I think I found something that works it eventually stops working. My main problem is twofold. I can’t push and I can’t hold. Meaning I can’t get it out and if it’s coming out I can’t hold it in and I’m going to have an accident. Sorry to be so graphic but is…
It used to take me a long time to accept each stage of MS. Each relapse and each steroid treatment it would take time for my head to get on straight to get better. People use to tell me I was so brave but the truth is, I wasn’t, I was in denial. I tried to pretend it wasn’t happening to the outside world. To my immediate family, especially my mom, I cried and complained often. They heard it all….
This morning I was watching people get in their cars and head out for work. There was a part of me that was jealous. Jealous that their life was easy in a way mine wasn’t. I stopped working three years ago. Since then I had to get an aid to assist me 5 days a week, I’m in a wheelchair when I leave my house and I now drive a handicap vehicle. That’s a big change from the days when…
You’d think a simple game like mahjong would be easy for someone with a chronic illness. Any game card or tiles. After all you are just sitting at a table all day how hard is that? Well now add in a weakened core muscles and for some a hint of cognitive difficulty and the simple task isn’t simple. For me, it’s the core muscles. It’s those muscles that hold your body up helping you sit at that card table. It…
