I cannot do things I once took for granted
I cannot do things I once took for granted (Finerminds.com)
Everyone knows Multiple sclerosis is a horrible disease. Now I cannot do things I once took for granted, its the Multiple Sclerosis. Its taken a long time but I thinks it has finally got me. I get so frustrated.
I cannot do things I once took for granted
Am I wrong? I don’t think so. Is a progressive physical disability best described as not being able to do things you once took for granted?
Severe foot drop has deprived me of a sense of balance. Shut my eyes and I fall over. I need to be able to see a horizon to stand on my feet
Getting up in the morning
I used to get out of bed, washed, dressed and downstairs in about 10 to 15 minutes.
Doing things takes so long
Now it is all a slow shuffle. Through to the bathroom using a walking frame. Brushing my teeth is OK. When I rinse the soap off my face I look down and shut my eyes. Whoops I nearly fall over.
Time to get dressed. Its impossible to stand on one leg and I cannot lift my left leg more than a couple of inches off the ground. Sit on the bed putting on socks and trousers is a slow business. It takes several minutes.
New skills?
I have to attach the electrodes for my FES. Putting on my left shoe is an art form. I have to lift my leg and carefully place it into the shoe taking care not to push the flap into the shoe. Another five minutes.
Painfully slow
MS has kindly destroyed all sense of feeling from my toes and fingers. Imagine doing up the buttons of a shirt with numb fingers.
There are lots of other little problems when getting dressed every morning that I have mastered. The stiff muscles make it trickier
If I am down stairs within 40 minutes of getting up then I’m doing well. That’s 25 minutes of my day lost before I have even made myself a cup of tea.
I can’t carry anything because I need both hands on the bannisters to stop me falling head first down the stairs.
S**t, I just remembered
I left my mobile phone and reading glasses upstairs, there goes another 5 minutes because I forgot to remember.
Back down stairs now I must find my rollator. I need the support and even then I can only walk painfully slowly. Gone are the days when I could hop, skip or jump.
Next time you see someone stumbling and disabled think of the time every action takes.
May 2016
I really can sympathise with you as your description of getting up is much the same for me. I also have to use a rollater to get around. It can be extremely frustrating, as when I go to watch my favourite TV programme and on settling in my chair, notice that someone has left the remote control next to the television across the room. So get up, rollate clumsily across the room, retrieve the remote and get back to my seat. No problem except I have missed the first seven minutes of my programme. But heigh ho, onwards and upwards – just not very far and not very high.
Hello John,
Yup heigh ho is the only way to go. Its dead frustrating when people lesve things in the wrong place. Drives me crackers.